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PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of 
Philip  H#  Waddell  Smith 

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THE  SCRIPTURES, 

FUNDAMENTAL  FACTS 

AND  FEATURES. 


BY 

Rev.  J.  B.  SHEARER,  D.  D.,  LL.   D. 

Professor   of   Biblical   Instruction,   Davidson   College  ;  Author   of   Bible 

Course  Syllabus  ;  Modern  Mysticism  ;  Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  and  Studies 

in  the  Life  of  Christ. 


RICHMOND,  VA.  : 

Presbyterian  Committee  of  Publication. 


Copyright  by 

R.  E.  MAGILL,  Secretary  of  Publication. 

1908. 


Printed  by 

Whittet  &  Shepperson 

Richmond,  Va. 


SJebtcatton. 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  HER 

WHO  FOR  NEARLY  FIFTEEN  YEARS  WAS 

MY  HELPER  AND  INSPIRATION, 

AND  WHO  HERSELF  SO  LOVED  THE  SCRIPTURES 

THIS  LITTLE  VOLUME 

IS  DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Unities  of  the  Scriptures,   9 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Object  and  Scope  of  Written  Revelation,     16 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Universal  Book,    31 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Canon.     Is  it  Divinely  Authenticated?  .  .     41 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Supernatural  in  the  Scriptures,   55 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Creation  and  the  Creator,  71 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Relations  of  the  Bible  and  Science,   ....     78 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Evolution.  What   Is   It  ?    84 


6  Contents. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Evolution.     Is  It  Scriptural?  9° 

CHAPTER  X. 
Geology — The  State  of  the  Question,  96 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Six  Days  of  Creation, 102 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The    Deluge,    112 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Influence  of  Judaism  on  Ancient  Civilization,   123 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Influence  on  Ancient  Religions,    129 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Influence  on  Ancient  Philosophy,  139 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Bible  in  Liberal  Education,   149 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
God  In   History,    159 


PREFACE. 


THIS  little  volume  presents  another  group  of  Bible 
studies  which  the  author  has  been  elaborating  for 
thirty-five  years  in  college  classes.  The  cordial  reception 
given  to  three  similar  volumes,  and  the  hearty  endorse- 
ment given  them  in  so  many  quarters,  emboldens  me  to 
continue  the  publication  of  these  formulated  results  of 
class-room  experience.  I  still  have  material  for  several 
other  little  volumes,  most  of  it  as  original  and  as  valuable 
as  anything  that  I  have  presented  to  the  public  for  their 
approval. 

It  is  not  easy  to  unify  fifteen  or  twenty  Bible  Studies 
under  one  title,  but  I  am  assured  by  competent  judges 
that  the  name  given  this  group  is  both  happy  and  ac- 
curate, and  the  trend  of  the  discussions  logically  coherent. 
The  views  of  holy  writ  herein  propounded  and  upheld  are 
outside  of  the  beaten  track,  and  may,  to  some,  seem  novel, 
but(  the  reader  will  find  nothing  in  them  that  savors  06 
modern  liberalism.  A  licentious  exegesis  and  criticism  is 
rejected  in  the  interest  of  an  intenser  traditionalism.  The 
fashion  has  been  too  often  to  surrender  one  half  of  the 
truth  in  the  vain  effort  to  save  the  other.  The  defender 
of  the  Bible  may  expect  to  "die  in  the  last  ditch"  if  he 


3  Preface. 

surrender  the  outposts  of  truth  as  indefensible.  The 
critic  may  read  the  table  of  contents,  and  ask  what  have 
Evolution,  Geology,  the  Flood  and  Science  in  general,  to 
do  with  the  fundamental  features  of  the  Scriptures.  Let 
him  read  the  book  and  see.  A  sound  exegesis  is  as 
essential  in  its  place  as  inspiration.  False  principles  of 
interpretation  adopted  in  the  interest  of  a  false  philosophy 
or  science  must  sooner  or  later  betray  the  entire  citadel 
of   faith.  J.   B.   S. 

Davidson,  N.  C. 


THE  SCRIPTURES: 

FUNDAMENTAL  FACTS  AND  FEATURES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The    Unities   of    Scripture. 

THE  Bible  is  an  aggregation  of  books,  comprising 
the  best  literature  of  the  Jewish  people,  but  not  by 
any  means  all  their  literature,  much  of  which  has  per- 
ished. Its  production  spans  about  sixteen  hundred  years 
of  their  history.  It  is  the  work  of  thirty-two  or  more 
authors,  at  wide  intervals  in  some  cases,  and  in  some 
cases  contemporaneous.  This  literature  is  unique  in  that 
it  shows  wonderful  harmonies  and  unities,  such  as  are 
not  to  be  found  in  the  literature  of  any  other  people. 
These  unities  are  essential  to  the  position  of  authority 
which  the  Scriptures  claim  for  themselves,  not  only 
among  the  people  who  produced  them,  but  over  the  entire 
human  race;  and,  besides,  they  assume  to  regulate  the 
well-being,  and  to  set  forth  the  destiny  of  all  created  in- 
telligences. They  also  set  forth  and  declare  the  ontology 
of  the  universe  of  God,  the  permanency  of  heaven  and 
hell,  and  the  transient  existence  of  the  physical  universe. 
Now,  what  are  the  unities  which  enable  the  Scriptures 
to  assert  and  maintain  their  claims  to  this  exalted  position 
among  the  literatures  of  the  nations?  These  unities  are 
fourfold : 


io  The  Scriptures, 

I.  Unity  of  authorship,  with  a  variety  of  authors. 
Moses,  David,  John  and  others,  were  as  distinctly  the 
authors  of  the  books  they  wrote  as  Josephus,  Milton  and 
Bancroft.  The  personal  element  is  found  throughout 
their  writings.  There  is  also  a  divine  authorship.  "God, 
who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners,  spake  in  time 
past  unto  the  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  these  last 
days  spoken  to  us  by  his  son."  (Heb.  i.  I,  2.)  This  unity 
of  authorship  is  effected  by  inspiration.  "Holy  men  of 
God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  (2 
Peter  i.  21.)  This  is  perhaps  the  simplest  and  also  the 
most  exhaustive  possible  definition  of  inspiration. 

This  unity  is  constantly  assumed.  "The  Scriptures 
foreseeing  that  God  Would1  justify  the  heathen  through 
faith,"  etc.  (Gal.  iii.  8.)  Such  foresight  is  divine.  "The 
Word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful  .  .  .  and  is  a  dist- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart."  (Heb.  iv. 
12.)  Such  knowledge  is  divine.  "The  law  of  the  Lord 
is  perfect,  converting  the  soul ;  the  testimony  of  the  Lord 
is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple.  The  statutes  of  the  Lord 
are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart;  the  commandment  of  the 
Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the  eyes.  The  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  clean,  enduring  forever;  the  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether."  (Ps.  xix.  7-9.) 
These  all,  the  law,  the  testimony,  the  statutes,  the  com- 
mandment, the  fear,  the  judgments,  all  reflect  the  divine 
attributes  and  perfections.  There  were  none  to  dispute 
this  assumption,  and  the  prophet  who  wrote  stood  pre- 
pared to  attest  his  commission  by  miracles  of  knowledge 
or  power.  For  this  reason  categorical  statements  are  few. 
The  famous  passage  in  2  Tim.  iii.  16,  "All  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  stands  impregnable  in  its 
context,  even  if  the  rendering  of  the  Revisers  be  admitted, 
and  sets  up  the  divine  authorship  of  all  the  valuable  and 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  ii 

necessary  content  of  the  Scriptures — valuable  "because 
given  by  inspiration  of  God" — a  better  rendering  of  the 
participial  clause. 

The  author  is  the  Lord,  the  mediator  of  all  the  coven- 
ants. "Thus  saith  the  Lord"  is  the  prophet's  formula  and 
constant  refrain.  (Ex.  iv.  22;  Is.  xxii.  14,  15;  Rev.  i. 
8,  and  elsewhere.) 

II.  Unity  of  aim,  plan  and  purpose.  "I  am  Alpha,  and 
Omega,  the  beginning,  and  the  end,  the  first  and  the  last." 
(Rev.  xxii.  13.)  "Known  unto  God  are  all  his  works 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world."  (Acts  xv.  18.)  "Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever."  (Heb. 
xiii.  8.)  Such  a  God  must  needs  have  a  plan  and  purpose 
in  his  book  of  revelation  as  he  unfolded  it  in  the  cen-, 
turies.  It  may  be  gathered  from  the  Scriptures  and  ex- 
pressed in  three  propositions. 

1.  To  preserve  and  vindicate  the  old  truth  against  all 
comers.  Both  before  and  after  the  flood  sin  and  satan, 
and  the  deceitful  heart  of  man,  conspired  to  change  the 
truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  the  conflict  has  raged  in  all 
the  ages  between  truth  and  falsehood.  The  Cain  and 
Abel  feud  was  the  beginning  of  the  conflict.  The  first 
commandment  at  Sinai,  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  God 
before  me,"  vindicates  his  original  authority  against  "gods 
many  and  lords  many,"  seeking  to  usurp  his  authority. 
The  fourth  commandment  says  "remember."  The  two 
tables  of  stone  might  well  be  called  a  remembrancer,  and 
a  witness  to  the  old  truth,  promulgated  anew  with  all  the 
sanctions  of  Sinai.  The  prophets  were  the  restorers  of 
the  "old  paths."  The  oracles  of  God  were  written  out 
and  committed  to  the  Jews  for  the  saving  of  the  truth. 

2.  The  Scriptures  record  the  history  of  the  conflict  and 
its  issues,  down  to  the  close  of  the  canon,  and  set  forth 
the  final  triumph  of  the  truth.    "The  Scripture  saith  unto 


12  The  Scriptures, 

Pharaoh,  Even  for  this  same  purpose  have  I  raised  thee 
up,  that  I  might  show  my  power  in  thee,  and  that  my 
name  might  be  declared  throughout  all  the  earth."  (Rom. 
ix.  17.)  In  the  ten  great  plagues  of  Egypt,  the  great 
battle  between  monotheism  and  polytheism  was  fought  to 
a  finish.  James  says :  "Ye  have  heard  of  the  patience  of 
Job."  (James  v.  II.)  In  that  wonderful  book  of  Job, 
possibly  the  first  written  of  the  canon,  we  find  the  record 
of  the  most  malignant  assault  that  Satan  was  ever  per- 
mitted to  make  upon  the  righteous  in  the  person  of  Job, 
with  the  Lord  pledged  for  his  vindication.  The  slanderer 
was  utterly  routed,  and  the  righteous  forever  vindicated. 
So  all  through  the  Scriptures,  wars  and  conflicts ;  God 
and  his  eternal  truth  on  one  side,  and  sin  and  Satan  and 
falsehood  on  the  other. 

3.  The  Scriptures  expound  the  way  of  life,  from  Eden 
to  the  resurrection.  This  is  the  most  obvious  aim  and 
purpose  of  the  Scriptures.  Natural  conscience,  obvious 
facts  in  universal  experience  and  revelation,  all  proclaim 
man  a  sinner  lost,  "without  hope  and  without  God  in  the 
world,"  under  the  wrath  and  curse  of  God.  The  earliest 
record  tells  of  sin  and  death,  and  promises  that  the  seed 
of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  Every 
covenant,  every  sacrificial  rite,  every  prophet,  and  every 
type  fulfilled,  point  out  and  expound  the  way  of  life. 
Moses  and  David,  Isaiah  and  Daniel,  Christ  and  Paul, 
teach  the  way  of  life,  and  John  tells  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem and  its  glories,  and  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead 
and  the  final  judgment. 

Salvation  from  sin  and  death,  and  eternal  life  and 
holiness,  are  the  reason  for  the  book.  Its  other  and 
abundant  incidental  value  is  but  subordinate  and  ancillary 
to  this  great  and  glorious  purpose.     In  setting  forth  these 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  13 

things,  we  may  not  forget  that  God  has  done  all  this,  not 
for  our  sake,  but  for  "his  own  glory." 

III.  Unity  of  Doctrine.  By  doctrine  we  mean  the 
complement  or  aggregate  of  religious  truth  revealed  and 
taught  from  the  beginning,  and  emphasized  by  inspired 
teachers  as  needed,  and  passed  down  the  ages  to  us  in 
the  written  word.  Some  imagine  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
earliest  ages  was  crude,  imperfect,  full  of  error,  limited 
and  partial,  or,  at  best,  merely  germinal.  These  hold  that 
doctrine  was  progressive  in  its  growth  until  it  was  com- 
pleted at  the  close  of  the  canon;  that  the  crudities  were 
gradually  eliminated,  and  that  new  and  purer  forms  of 
truth  were  added  as  the  race  could  bear  them,  or  needed 
them.  Our  contention  is  that  man  had  the  same  needs 
from  the  beginning  that  we  have,  and  was  as  fully  able 
to  bear  the  truth.  The  Lord  was  their  constant,  if  not 
their  daily  teacher,  by  direct  theophany,  and  by  inspired 
patriarch  and  priest.  There  is  no  evidence  that  anything 
was  modified  or  revoked,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that 
anything  was  added.  The  principle  of  the  growth  of  the 
Scriptures  was  not  doctrinal  development,  but  rather  the 
preservation  of  the  old  truth  against  perversion  and  cor- 
ruption. One  or  two  illustrations  may  suffice  here.  In 
Isaiah  i.  10-15,  the  prophet  sets  up  no  new  doctrine,  but 
vindicates  the  spirituality  of  true  worship  against  the 
aggressive  formalism  of  his  day.  Malachi,  in  iii.  8, 
teaches  no  new  doctrine  when  he  arraigns  those  who 
withhold  their  tithes,  and  shows  their  guilt. 

Every  prophet  and  teacher  reiterates  old  truth.  Even 
Christ  and  Paul  appeal  to  previous  authority  rightly 
understood.  Christ  says,  "Search  the  Scriptures ;  for  in 
them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life;  and  they  are  they 
which  testify  of  me."  (Jno.  v.  39.)  Paul  says,  "what  saith 
the  Scriptures?"   (Romans  iv.  3.)     Isaiah  says,  "to  thf 


14  The  Scriptures, 

law  and  to  the  testimony,"  (Isa.  viii.  20.)  The  superior 
light  of  the  later  Scriptures  from  our  point  of  view,  and 
as  we  read  them,  is  due  to  the  controversies  made  neces- 
sary by  new  heresies;  c.  g.,  The  doctrine  of  the  sonship 
is  emphasized  because  the  Pharisees  disputed  the  sonship 
of  Christ;  the  Sadducean  heresy  made  it  necessary  to 
emphasize  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection;  and  so  with 
other  truth. 

IV.  Unity  of  Morals.  Some  suppose  that  the  earlier 
Scriptures  present  a  low  morality,  such  as  would  not 
pass  to-day,  and  that  morals  were  gradually  unfolded  and 
improved  until  Christ  presents  to  us  a  pure  and  holy 
moral  code.  The  true  doctrine  is  that  both  Testaments 
are  equally  pure,  benignant  and  liberal,  equally  holy,  just 
and  good.  This  would  appear  from  the  fact  that  the 
Lord  is  equally  the  author  of  both  Testaments.  The 
moral  law,  proclaimed  on  Mount  Sinai  and  expounded  on 
the  Mount  in  Galilee,  is  the  expression  of  the  divine  holi- 
ness. "Shall  not  the  judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right?" 
(Gen.  xviii.  25.)  "The  law  is  holy,  the  commandment 
holy,  just  and  good."  (Rom.  vii.  12.) 

These  unities  are  not  separate  and  unrelated  unities, 
but  they  are  all  found  running  through  the  entire  Scrip- 
tures. In  this  discussion  they  are  merely  designated  and 
defined,  but  they  will  be  much  more  fully  elucidated  and 
illustrated,  and  if  need  be,  defended  in  other  connections. 
To  this  the  next  chapter  is  devoted. 

These  four  unities  constitute  the  general  argument  for 
inspiration.  As  in  the  physical  universe,  the  several 
unities  of  gravitation,  heat,  light  and  electricity  are  found 
throughout,  and  argue  one  creator  for  the  whole,  him- 
self infinite  in  his  wisdom  and  power;  so  in  the  Bible,  its 
unities,  noted  and  discussed,  argue  it  to  be  the  product  of 
one,    infinite   in   his   "wisdom,   power,   holiness,   justice, 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  15 

goodness  and  truth."  Speculative  and  philosophic  discus- 
sions of  inspiration  have  their  place  in  defending  the  doc- 
trine of  inspiration  among  the  learned,  but  the  common- 
sense  argument  here  indicated  is  sufficient  for  the  faith 
of  the  childlike  believer,  and  also  sufficient  to  anchor  us 
in  our  study  of  the  Scriptures. 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Object  and  Scope  of  Written  Revelation. 

WE  USE  the  term  "Revelation,"  in  its  wider  sig- 
nification, as  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
and  as  implying  divine  authority  for  the  whole,  just  as 
we  call  the  whole  the  Word  of  God.  Both  of  these 
names  imply  the  orthodox  view  of  inspiration.  We  shall 
assume  that  the  book  is  as  distinctly  divine  as  if  it  all 
were  actually  revealed,  while  it  is  as  distinctly  human  as 
if  all  were  of  human  origin.  It  is  the  analogue  of  the 
Incarnate  Word,  in  whom  perfect  divinity  and  inerrant 
humanity  meet  in  one  person — the  God-man.  While  it 
is  not  the  purpose  at  this  time  to  discuss  this  view,  it 
will,  no  doubt,  appear  incidentally  that  no  other  working 
hypothesis  is  so  satisfactory  as  this,  no  matter  what  in- 
ductions we  seek  to  make  from  the  Scriptures. 

Writing  looks  to  permanent  preservation  in  unvarying 
form,  and  carries  authority  when  duly  authenticated. 
The  "Ten  Words"  were  written  on  tables  of  stone  by  the 
finger  of  God,  and  kept  in  the  ark  of  the  testimony  under 
the  most  awful  sanctions.  Moses  wrote  his  law  in  a 
book,  and  put  it  either  in  or  beside  the  ark  for  a  witness. 
Samuel  wrote  the  "manner  of  the  kingdom"  in  a  book. 
Christ  said  to  Satan,  "It  is  written." 

There  is  no  difference  of  opinion  here.  Nor  is  it  im- 
portant to  settle  whether  there  were  previous  writings 
from  which  much  of  the  earlier  books  of  revelation  was 
taken,  nor  how  far  such  writings  may  have  been  inspired. 

It   is  now  popular   to   say   that   the   Scriptures   are  a 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  17 

growth,  a  development  from  a  few  germinal  truths  into  a 
complete  system  of  doctrine  and  morals,  keeping  pace 
with  the  exigencies  of  the  race  in  passing  from  infancy, 
so  called,  to  full  maturity.  This  view  finds  the  whole 
Scriptures  congruous  and  coherent,  like  a  growing  plant 
adding  shoot  to  shoot  and  leaf  to  leaf,  and  flowers  and 
fruit  at  the  appointed  season.  It  finds  the  whole  Gospel 
logically  and  coherently  contained  in  the  Protevangelion, 
just  as  the  plant  is  contained  in  the  seed,  but  not  dis- 
coverable except  as  unfolded  in  successive  stages  of 
growth  from  century  to  century. 

There  is  another  theory  closely  akin  to  this,  which 
finds  blemishes  and  incongruities,  and  misapprehensions 
of  truth,  and  barbaric  and  semi-barbaric  codes,  the  crude 
products  of  a  still  crude  humanity,  to  be  superseded,  as 
the  race  advances  and  light  increases,  by  sounder  doc- 
trines and  purer  morals,  down  to  the  close  of  the  canon. 
Some  who  hold  this  theory  find  a  continuation  of  this 
evolutionary  process  in  the  "Christian  consciousness" 
until  it  yields  a  fruitage  not  found  in  the  Scriptures  at 
all,  and  even  impossible  there,  because  of  the  still  narrow 
and  contracted  view  of  the  sacred  writers  themselves;  or 
in  other  words,  the  spiritual  insight  of  the  nineteenth 
century  "would  have  been  an  anachronism"  in  the  first. 

These  two  theories  are  one,  in  that  they  both  assume'a 
"continuity  of  doctrinal  development."  But  the  former 
is  far  more  coherent  with  our  notions  of  the  Divine 
Teacher  and  Revealer ;  while  the  latter,  if  true,  might  be 
cited  to  prove  the  same  stages  in  the  development  of  di- 
vinity as  are  argued  for  humanity. 

It  is  worth  our  while  to  consider  whether  there  be  any 
such  doctrinal  development  in  the  Scriptures  as  would 
justify  either  theory.  Looking  backwards  into  the  Scrip- 
tures from  our  standpoint,  it  is  evident  that  some  things 


18  The  Scriptures, 

seem  much  clearer  and  are  far  more  emphasized  in  the 
later  books.  Good  and  substantial  reasons  may  be  found 
for  this,  other  than  the  hypothesis  of  development;  and 
it  may  be  that  the  facts  are  utterly  inconsistent  with  this 
hypothesis. 

We  are  often  cautioned  not  to  read  into  the  Scriptures 
our  own  preconceptions,  and  especially  not  to  read  into 
the  earlier  books  views  of  truth  gotten  from  the  clearer 
teachings  of  the  later.  Without  disparaging  this  caveat, 
it  might  be  well  to  emphasize  a  counter  caution,  not  to, 
read  out  of  the  earlier  Scriptures  many  things  which 
are  necessary  to  their  having  any  signification  at  all,  to 
the  utter  emasculation  and  invalidation  of  the  later  also. 

No  one  will  deny  the  historic  development  of  the  race 
into  families,  peoples,  and  nations,  for  the  Scriptures  ex- 
hibit this  fully.  Nor  will  any  one  dispute  the  growth  of 
the  volume  of  the  Scriptures  from  century  to  century. 
It  remains,  however,  to  discover  the  law  of  that  growth 
by  a  careful  reference  to  the  facts  they  furnish,  before 
we  can  set  up  the  "historic  continuity  of  doctrinal  de- 
velopment" as  the  law  of  that  growth.  There  are  cer- 
tainly many  facts  found  in  them  which  not  only  set  aside 
much  of  the  argument  for  this  hypothesis,  but  do  suggest 
another  hypothesis  wholly  incompatible  with  it,  which 
may  be  stated  in  the  following  propositions : 

1.  The  whole  body  of  truth  was  known  to  the  ancients 
as  a  concrete  unity,  prior  to  our  present  written  revelation. 

2.  Apparent  modifications  and  additions  are  but  the 
practical  adaptation  and  application  of  old  truth  to  new 
and  varying  conditions. 

3.  In  the  earlier  Scriptures  those  things  were  written 
and  emphasized  which  were  most  readily  corrupted  or 
most  easily  forgotten. 

4.  The  volume  of  inspiration  grew  to  keep  pace  with 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  19 

the  obscurations  which  sin  and  Satan  sought  to  put  on 
the  old  truth.  As  new  perversions  and  heresies  arose, 
new  prophets,  divinely  accredited,  set  up  the  old  truth  in 
refutation.  In  the  completed  canon  we  have  the  record 
of  the  conflict — truth  triumphant,  Satan  discomfited. 

An  exhaustive  presentation  and  discussion  of  the  facts 
that  bear  upon  this  question  would  require  a  volume.  It 
may  be  profitable  here,  however,  to  cite  the  surface  facts 
and  indicate  their  significance  in  such  form  as  to  ''blaze 
the  way"  for  a  more  exhaustive  induction. 

I.  The  human  race  had  no  such  infancy  as  is  assumed, 
for  which  a  small  modicum  of  truth  would  have  been 
sufficient.  Primitive  man  was  in  all  respects  a  wonder 
in  creation,  a  wonder  until  now ;  in  body,  perhaps  a 
giant,  certainly  of  iron  constitution,  ten  times  as  long- 
lived  as  now,  even  after  the  curse  and  blight  of  sin  and 
the  death  sentence  had  passed  upon  him ;  in  spirit,  "made 
after  the  image  of  God  in  knowledge,  righteousness  and 
true  holiness,  with  dominion  over  the  creatures."  Such 
was  man — marvel  of  marvels !  Who  will  deny  that  his 
necessities  and  exigencies  were  as  extensive  as  his  facul- 
ties, and  as  varied  as  his  millennial  experience?  or  that 
his  God-given  knowledge  was  equal  to  them  all? 

II.  There  was  ample  provision,  both  before  and  after 
the  fall,  for  his  thorough  indoctrination,  and  for  pre- 
serving and  conserving  the  same,  in  the  probable  absence 
of  written  doctrine.  There  was  face  to  face  converse 
with  the  Lord  Jehovah,  the  mediator  of  all  the  covenants, 
and  the  theophanic  revealer  of  the  ages,  all  for  purposes 
of  instruction.  The  family  was  made  the  locus  of  a  "holy 
seed,"  and  the  Sabbath  the  special  time  for  teaching 
"knowledge,  righteousness  and  true  holiness,"  just  as 
now.  The  head  of  every  house  was  a  priest,  and  had  the 
oracle  by  virtue  of  his  office,  a   fact  often  overlooked. 


2o  The  Scriptures, 

There  were  also  inspired  visions  given  for  instruction 
and  easily  distinguished  from  ordinary  dreams,  whether 
understood  or  not,  and  also  inspired  expositions  of  the 
same.  To  all  this  was  added  tradition,  made  valuable  by 
the  long  lives  of  the  patriarchs,  and  by  the  oft-repeated 
testimony  of  actual  experiences  and  realizations  of  truth, 
and  guarded  by  the  inspiration  of  priest  and  prophet. 
And  ages  later,  when  the  family  priest  was  superseded  by 
a  priestly  caste,  the  prophetical  order  was  greatly  ex- 
panded so  as  to  guard  against  the  possible  evils  of  a 
hereditary  priesthood  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  supple- 
ment a  partial  canon  on  the  other. 

III.  The  actual  knowledge  of  the  first  generation  was 
far  more  than  a  mere  germ.  When  we  consider  the 
brevity  of  the  early  history,  the  wonder  is  that  we  find 
so  much  expressed  or  implied.  The  record  in  Genesis 
was  written  for  the  Jewish  people,  and  is  to  be  under- 
stood as  they  understood  it.  For  example:  When  they 
read  that  Cain  and  Abel  made  their  offerings,  there  was 
no  need  to  mention  the  distinction  between  the  sin-offer- 
ing and  the  meat-offering,  and  all  the  details  thereof; 
the  mere  mention  of  the  offerings  was  ample  exposition ; 
and  when  Eve  said,  "I  have  gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord," 
there  was  no  need  to  define  the  doctrine  of  providence ; 
it  is  simply  assumed  as  fundamental  in  her  creed.  In- 
deed it  is  noteworthy  that  statements  of  doctrine  in  the 
earlier  Scriptures  are  commonly  made  in  concrete  form 
by  assumption  and  by  implication,  rather  than  by  categori- 
cal statement.  The  same  is  true  of  the  later  Scriptures 
also,  except  when,  in  refutation  of  some  heresy,  it  be- 
comes necessary  to  set  up  the  old  truth  in  positive 
categories. 

IV.  The  fulness  and  completeness  of  truth  from  the 
beginning  may  be  amply  illustrated : 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  21 

(a)  The  constitution  of  the  family  is  so  definitely 
given  that  neither  Moses,  nor  Malachi,  nor  Christ  add 
anything  to  it,  but  rather  quote  the  same  in  refutation  of 
the  heresies  of  their  day. 

(b)  The  Sabbath  must  have  had  its  full  significance 
from  the  beginning,  because  subsequent  references  to  it 
in  the  law  are  a  reminder  of  older  obligations  rather  than 
new  legislation ;  and  Christ's  careful  expositions  are  but 
a  re-definition  of  its  original  limitations,  made  necessary 
by  perversions  of  the  true  nature  of  Sabbath  observance. 

(c)  The  knowledge  of  God  was  as  complete  and  ac- 
curate in  the  early  ages  as  since.  An  Eternal  First  Cause 
is  assumed  as  the  creator  of  all  things.  He  is  man's 
friend  and  counsellor,  law-giver  and  judge.  He  vindi- 
cates truth,  and  determines  heresy  as  final  arbiter.  He 
passes  sentence  on  the  sinner,  and  executes  the  same,  or 
protects  the  criminal  for  a  purpose.  He  declares  his 
mercy  in  the  very  face  of  forfeited  favor,  and  stays  the 
death  penalty.  His  blessing  on  all  the  works  of  his  hand 
and  the  interlacing  curses  vindicated  his  attributes  of  jus- 
tice, goodness,  power  and  knowledge  in  those  early  days 
as  clearly  as  now.  He  was  recognized  as  the  God  of 
creation,  of  providence  and  of  grace. 

And  if  it  be  true  that  the  name  Jehovah — Jahveh — 
translated  Lord  in  so  many  versions,  as  well  as  in  the 
New  Testament,  was  the  specific  name  of  the  second  per- 
son of  the  Godhead,  as  can  easily  be  shown,  then  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  the  very  surface  doctrine  of 
the  earliest  records,  and  the  supposed  necessity  for  the 
distinction  of  "Elohistic  and  Jehovistic"  absolutely  fails 
the  critics. 

(d)  And  what  of  their  moral  code?  No  man  can  read 
the  first  eight  chapters  of  Genesis  and  fail  to  see  that  the 
moral  law  was  as  inexorable  as  at  Sinai,  and  was  en- 


22  The  Scriptures, 

forced  by  stupendous  sanctions,  as  the  waters  of  the  flood 
do  testify. 

(e)  But  perhaps  the  Protevangelion  was  a  mere  ger- 
minal fore-shadowing  of  a  plan  of  salvation  to  be  un- 
folded and  understood  after  the  lapse  of  four  thousand 
years.  If  we  study  it  in  the  light  of  its  origin  and  set- 
ting— the  covenant  of  works,  the  tempter,  the  curse,  the 
promise,  the  Cain  and  Abel  feud,  the  accepted  bloody  sac- 
rifice, the  rejection  of  the  mere  thank-offering,  and  the 
divine  rebuke  of  Cain — we  can  but  recognize  the  plan  of 
salvation  in  its  concrete  entirety  from  which  Cain  and 
Socinus  have  taken  nothing  away,  and  to  which  Paul 
and  Calvin  have  added  nothing  new.  That  plan  of  sal- 
vation revealed  at  Eden  and  transmitted  in  type  and 
prophecy  is,  like  its  author,  "the  same  yesterday,  to-day 
and  forever." 

V.  For  all  practical  purposes,  however,  cur  proper 
starting  point  is  Noah,  and  the  quantum  of  truth  which 
he  possessed  was  the  heritage  of  the  race  when  entering 
on  its  new  career.  When  we  remember  that  he  was  a 
"righteous  man,"  "perfect  in  his  generation,"  and  a 
"preacher  of  righteousness,"  enjoying  the  divine  counsel 
both  before  and  after  the  flood,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
all  former  truth  was  his,  embracing,  at  least,  what  we 
have  already  sketched.  All  the  facts  of  his  life  go  to 
confirm  this  view,  as  witness  his  Sabbath,  his  sacrifice, 
his  covenant,  and  his  curse.  We  start  here  with  no  mere 
germ  of  truth,  and  with  no  imbecile  infancy  of  the  race, 
needing  but  a  small  modicum  of  knowledge.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  apostasies  before  the  flood  under  the 
leadership  of  Cain  and  his  sons,  the  race  made  a  second 
start  under  conditions  most  favorable  for  preserving  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  God  and  the  way  of  life,  and  the 
old  patriarch  was  their  teacher  for  three  hundred  years. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  23 

The  families  descended  from  him,  and  growing  into 
nations,  were  of  one  faith  and  worship,  just  as  they  were 
of  one  tongue. 

VI.  In  the  course  of  time  heresies  were  invented,  and 
apostasies  followed,  and  men  started  on  the  same  career 
of  evil  as  before  the  flood,  except  as  retarded  by  the 
confusion  of  tongues  and  other  causes.  It  became  nec- 
essary in  the  economy  of  grace  to  adopt  a  new  expedient, 
or  a  new  line  of  policy  (I  speak  reverently),  in  order  to 
save  the  truth  against  the  time  of  general  apostasy.  Tra- 
dition had  once  failed  with  all  its  associated  advantages, 
such  was  the  perversity  of  sin  and  the  cunning  of  Satan. 
While  the  danger  was  still  remote,  Abram  was  chosen, 
and  made  a  party  to  a  special  covenant ;  a  chosen  people 
grew  out  of  his  loins,  unique  in  their  training  and  ex- 
ceptional in  their  relations  to  God.  They  were  to  receive 
the  "oracles  of  God"  in  written,  permanent  form  for  a 
testimony  against  encroaching  apostasies,  and  so  to  bless 
all  nations,  and  prepare  the  world  for  the  'coming  of  the 
true  seed,  the  promised  Christ. 

VII.  There  is  no  evidence  that  apostasy  was  general 
in  the  time  of  the  patriarchs,  but  rather  the  reverse. 
Abram  found  the  "fear  of  the  Lord"  on  the  thrones  of 
Egypt  and  of  Gerar,  and  two  hundred  years  later  Joseph 
held  no  exceptional  creed  in  Egypt.  Melchizedek,  king 
of  Salem,  was  a  high  priest,  and  Abraham  was  only  a 
temporary  member  of  his  constituency  of  family  priests. 
There  is  no  mystery  about  this  man,  if  we  recognize  him 
as  a  high  priest  in  a  catholic  hierarchy,  to  which,  no 
doubt,  belonged  Potipherah,  priest  of  On,  Jethro,  priest 
of  Midian,  of  later  date,  and  later  still,  Balaam,  who  was 
evidently  high  priest  of  his  people,  and  of  wide  reputa- 
tion, a  priest  of  the  Lord,  officially  as  true  as  steel,  but 
personally  as   corrupt   as   sin,   himself   marking  a   stage 


24  The  Scriptures, 

in  a  growing  apostasy.  The  indications  are  clear  enough 
that  the  Canaanite  nations  were  not  yet  apostates  in  the 
days  of  the  patriarchs.  Two  centuries,  however,  wrought 
great  changes  in  Canaan  and  in  Egypt,  while  sixty-six 
were  growing  into  two  millions ;  and  they  emerged  at 
Mount  Sinai  to  receive  the  written  oracles  none  too  soon 
to  save  the  waning  truth  from  her  enemies.  All  the  sub- 
sequent history  shows  that  the  nations  were  not  ignorant 
of  the  claims  of  the  Lord  Jehovah,  though  they  so  largely 
rejected  his  authority.  In  David's  day,  Hiram,  king  of 
Tyre,  was  as  orthodox  in  his  expressions  as  David  him- 
self, so  far  as  the  history  goes ;  and  when  Tyre  and  Israel 
had  fallen  into  a  common  apostasy,  the  prophet  Isaiah  de- 
nounces against  them  'both  a  captivity  of  seventy  years, 
and  apparently  for  the  same  reason.  We  need  not  cite 
similar  knowledge  of  the  truth  at  Nineveh  and  Babylon 
at  a  later  day,  for  other  forces  were  at  work  besides 
natural  succession.  It  is,  however,  pertinent  to  notice 
that  the  earliest  idolatry  of  which  we  have  any  record  was 
a  ritualistic  idolatry  in  worship  of  the  true  God.  And  the 
more  we  study  the  usages  and  traditions  of  pagan  peoples, 
the  more  evident  it  is  that  they  are  all  but  secondary 
crystallizations  from  a  common  faith,  and  the  detritus 
from  a  common  original  formation,  the  origin  and  details 
)f  which  are  in  the  Scriptures. 

VIII.  The  books  of  Moses  put  into  permanent  form  all 
those  things  which  were  most  liable  to  perversion,  and 
which  were  in  most  need  of  emphasis  amid  changing  con- 
ditions, whether  they  were  ceremonial,  civil  or  social  cus- 
toms, or  matters  of  moral  obligation.  They  were  not 
new,  but  were  put  in  permanent  and  authoritative  form 
against  the  corrupting  tendencies  of  the  age;  e.  g.,  the 
elaborate  provisions  of  Leviticus  do  but  record  the  more 
briefly  stated  practices  of  the  earlier  patriarchs,  with  con- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  25 

ceded  new  adaptations  to  new  conditions ;  the  Sabbath, 
the  altar,  the  bloody  sacrifice,  the  priest,  the  clean  victim 
were  of  early  origin,  while  the  special  provision  for  the 
continual  burnt-offering  and  other  mere  details  of  times, 
seasons  and  numbers  were  probably  or  at  least  possibly 
new;  or  in  social  law,  the  levirate  marriage  was  as  dis- 
tinctly lawful  in  Judah's  family  as  in  the  happier  nuptials 
of  Boaz  and  Ruth;  or  in  civil  matters,  the  principle  of 
government  by  elders  was  as  distinctly  marked  when 
Moses  covenanted  with  the  elders  of  his  people  in  Egypt, 
as  when  at  Mount  Sinai,  by  divine  command,  he  called 
out  the  same  seventy  elders  and  put  honor  and  responsi- 
bility upon  them;  or  in  the  moral  code,  the  harlotry  of, 
Tamar  was  adjudged  worthy  of  death  centuries  before 
the  seventh  commandment  was  promulgated  from  Sinai's 
top. 

Were  it  not  for  the  obvious  fact  that  Mosaic  codes  and 
customs  were  not  new  in  their  general  trend  and  under- 
lying principles,  and  often  in  actual  detail,  hostile  criti- 
cism could  never  have  given  them  plausible  origins  else- 
where. On  our  theory,  the  hypothesis  of  earlier  docu- 
ments and  earlier  codes  would  tend  to  strengthen  their 
authoritative  codification  at  Mount  Sinai,  rather  than  to 
disintegrate  and  weaken.  Indeed  the  vocation  of  the 
destructive  critic  would  utterly  fail  him  on  our  theory, 
for  if  the  codification  and  recension  be  only  the  making- 
permanent  the  doctrines  of  the  ages,  what  matters  it 
whether  such  codification  took  place  earlier  or  later?  His 
criticism  is  largely  in  the  interest  of  the  evolution  of  doc- 
trine, morals,  government  and  civilization,  if  not  of  hu- 
manity itself. 

IX.  There  can  be  no  question  of  the  completeness  of 
civil,  social  and  moral  law  as  presented  in  Mosaic  legis- 
lation, while  the  ceremonial  seems  to  occupy  too  much 


26  The  Scriptures, 

space  and  attention.  There  is  a  reason  for  this,  however. 
The  ceremonial  system  is  an  elaborate  book  of  prophecy 
expressed  in  object  lessons  instead  of  written  language, 
eminently  adapted  to  exposition  by  parent,  priest  and 
prophet.  It  was  necessary  to  fix  the  minutest  detail? 
against  corruption  or  loss.  There  is  a  minimum  of  verbal 
prophecy  in  the  earlier  books  of  Scripture  because  not 
then  necessary;  but  in  the  later  history,  when  the  cere- 
monial was  waning  and  "waxing  old"  and  of  increasingly 
difficult  access  on  account  of  the  dispersion,  and  was  even 
suspended  for  a  season,  the  volume  of  written  verbal 
prophecy  was  rapidly  expanded,  and  was  promulgated 
through  the  synagogue,  so  as  to  set  forth  for  all,  both 
Jews  and  proselytes,  that  which  had  been  so  well  ex- 
pressed in  type  before.  It  was  only  a  change  of  method 
and  means  to  meet  new  conditions. 

It  may  also  be  noted  here  that  the  prophets  were  much 
engaged  in  correcting  abuses,  restoring  the  law,  and  set- 
ting up  sound  principles  against  encroaching  heresies  in 
doctrine  and  practice.  Here  also  the  volume  of  inspira- 
tion grew  to  keep  pace  with  the  obscurations  and  perver- 
sions of  faith  and  practice.  Such  truths  as  had  not  been 
attacked  were  little  emphasized  at  an  earlier  day,  or  rather 
in  the  earlier  Scriptures.  The  period  of  decline  in  the 
kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel  was  preeminently  a  time 
of  apostasy.  It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that  there 
was  large  work  for  the  prophetic  order  and  that  their 
numbers  reached  five  hundred  at  one  time  in  the  days  of 
Ahab  and  Jezebel.  The  major  and  the  minor  prophets 
belong  all  to  the  period  of  decline  and  restoration.  What 
wonder  then  that  the  truth  seems  to  shine  out  with  new 
light  in  their  writings !  They  were  the  restorers  of  the 
old  paths  rather  than  teachers  of  new  doctrines. 

For  example :  When  Isaiah  arraigned  formalism,  and 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  27 

vindicated  the  substance  as  against  the  mere  form,  was 
he  promulgating  a  new  doctrine,  or  was  he  not  rather 
refuting  a  rampant  heresy  which  substituted  the  form 
for  the  substance?  a  heresy  scotched  for  a  time,  but  not 
yet  dead. 

When  Malachi  said,  "Will  a  man  rob  God?"  was  he 
teaching  God's  ownership  of  the  tithe  as  a  new  doctrine? 
He  was  only  unmasking  that  rank  heresy  by  which  they 
not  only  withheld  the  tithe  but  justified  themselves  in  it — 
a  heresy  unknown  to  Abraham,  Jacob  and  Moses,  who 
evidently  believed  that  the  tithe  was  the  Lord's. 

Or  take  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  when  centuries 
later  still,  he  that  gave  the  law  on  Mount  Sinai,  ex- 
pounded the  same  on  the  Mount  in  Galilee,  brushing 
away  Pharisaic  glosses  and  interpretations  and  traditions 
by  which  they  "made  the  law  of  none  effect,"  and  re- 
stored the  law  to  its  original  and  true  significance.  Phari- 
seeism  with  its  negative  pole  Sadduceeism,  was  the  last 
great  heresy  of  the  ages.  Christ  and  the  apostles  vin- 
dicated the  old  truth  against  all  comers.  They  based 
their  claims  and  their  teaching  on  the  known,  accepted, 
obvious  and  common  sense  interpretation  of  the  older 
Scriptures.  "Search  the  Scriptures,"  said  Christ.  "To 
the  law  and  to  the  testimony,"  cried  Paul.  Their  teach- 
ings and  writings  bristle  with  polemics.  Even  the  gentlo 
John  cries,  "Believe  not  every  spirit,"  "No  lie  is  of  the 
truth."  There  was  no  more  powerful  exposer  of  heresy 
and  expounder  of  truth  than  he,  and  in  his  epistles  we 
find  the  only  complete,  exhaustive  and  final  refutation  of 
that  most  pestilent  heresy,  antinomianism. 

For  four  thousand  years  the  Father  of  Lies  exhausted 
all  his  ingenuity  and  malice  to  destroy  the  bulwarks  of 
eternal  truth.  He  succeeded  only  too  well  in  deceiving 
our  race  and  destroying  the  hopes  of  man.    The  Prince  of 


28  The  Scriptures, 

Peace,  the  Revcaler,  stood  by  his  people  and  fought  the 
battle  with  falsehood  and  sin.  The  enemy,  when  beaten  on 
one  field,  planned  his  cunning  assaults  on  another,  till 
the  whole  ground  was  fought  over.  Every  refuge  of  lies 
was  overthrown,  every  hiding  place  was  exposed,  every 
possible  heresy  was  sifted,  and  every  truth  vindicated. 

The  victory  was  won;  the  record  of  the  conflict  was 
written ;  the  canon  was  closed.  Prophet  and  oracle  ceased 
because  no  longer  needed.  The  Book  contains  the  uni- 
versal and  final  appeal.  We  approach  it  with  every  hard 
question  with  the  same  confidence  with  which  Joshua  and 
Eleazer  stood  before  the  Shekinah.  Satan  can  only  go 
over  the  old  battle  field,  and  repeat  himself  and  his  tactics 
in  order  to  deceive  the  unwary  and  the  ignorant.  His 
new  pretences  are  all  old;  his  new  heresies  are  all  obso- 
lete; his  new  disguises  are  but  the  tattered  remnants  of 
the  sheep's  clothing  so  often  torn  from  him  by  the  great 
shepherd  of  Israel.  The  wolf  can  only  prowl  on  the  old 
battle  fields,  and  the  most  timid  believer  may  put  him  to 
hasty  flight  with  a  single  weapon  from  this  armory. 

The  recasting  of  old  falsehoods  in  new  philosophic 
forms  of  statement,  and  in  new  metaphysical  nomen- 
clature is  all  that  he  now  can  do,  and  nothing  pleases  him 
better  than  when  the  defenders  of  truth  handle  the  same 
weapons  instead  of  that  "sharp  two-edged  sword,"  which 
is  the  word  of  God. 

Human  experience  had  already  been  exhaustive  in 
Solomon's  day,  and  he  put  much  of  it  in  permanent  form 
for  the  guidance  of  those  to  come  after.  The  same  things 
in  essence  had  been  re-enacted  in  divers  forms  by 
agencies  divine,  human,  and  satanic,  but  the  historic  argu- 
ment, the  logic  of  events  was  not  yet  complete.  Howi 
much  more  may  we  now  say  with  him,  "The  thing  that 
hath  been  is  that  which  shall  be ;  and  that  which  is  done 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  29 

is  that  which  shall  be  done;  and  there a is  no  new  thing 
under  the  sun.  Is  there  anything  of  which  it  may  be  said, 
see,  this  is  new?  It  hath  been  already  of  old  time  which 
was  before  us." 

What,  then,  is  the  law  of  the  growth  of  the  sacred 
oracles — the  object  and  scope  of  written  revelation?  We 
answer  in  one  triple  proposition :  To  preserve  and  vindi- 
cate the  old  truth  against  all  comers ;  to  record  the  history 
of  the  conflict  and  its  issues ;  and  to  expound  and  illus- 
trate the  way  of  life  from  Eden  to  the  resurrection. 

Objections  to  this  theory  arise  from  two  sources :  the 
mistaking  of  new  historic  facts  and  their  obvious  lessons 
for  new  revelations  of  truth ;  and  a  total  misapprehension 
of  the  relations  of  the  prophets  to  the  Mosaic  economy, 
and  even  of  Christ  himself  to  the  same,  and  through  it, 
to  the  older  covenants.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  prophet 
was  commissioned  to  enforce  and  not  to  modify ;  and 
Christ  was  so  "made  under  the  law"  to  obey  and  to  suffer, 
that  it  was  not  competent  for  him  to  add  aught  to,  or 
take  aught  from  that  which  he  had  before  set  up  with 
paramount  authority.  He  came  "not  to  destroy  but  to 
fulfill." 

Several  valuable  corollaries  flow  from  this  theory  if  it 
be  accepted  in  its  entirety. 

1.  The  fixity  of  truth  from  the  beginning,  like  the 
fixity  of  species,  while  it  presents  great  variety  in  its  ap- 
plications and  concrete  manifestations,  as  the  ages  pass. 

2.  The  absolute  sufficiency  and  completeness  of  truth, 
written  and  unwritten,  at  the  successive  stages  of  the 
mediatorial  economy. 

3.  The  lawfulness  of  constructing  a  whole  body  of 
divinity  on  a  few  recorded  truths,  just  as  comparative 
anatomy  reconstructs  the  ancient  saurian  on  a  single  dis- 
covered bone;  one  bone  implies  all. 


30  The  Scriptures, 

4.  The  superior  value  of  the  historic  method,  the  logic 
of  events,  over  the  purely  exegetical  in  the  defence  of 
truth.  The  methods  of  Augustine,  Calvin  and  Hodge 
seem  to  be  a  partial  reversal  of  the  methods  of  Christ 
and  Paul,  and  just  so  far  weaker  and  less  satisfactory. 

5.  It  supersedes  the  plausibilities  of  the  humanitarian,, 
the  rationalist,  the  liberalist,  and  the  destructive. 

6.  Christian  apologetics  rises  to  the  higher  ground  of 
Christian  polemics,  putting  the  beast,  the  false  prophet, 
and  that  old  serpent  to  shameful  rout  with  the  word  of 
God  which  is  the  "Sword  of  the  Spirit." 


CHAPTER  III. 
The  Universal  Book. 

THE  study  of  literature  is  beginning  to  take  a  much 
higher  place  in  education  and  deservedly  so.  Much 
of  the  so-called  study  of  literature  is  limited  to  mere  hand- 
books, setting  forth  names  and  personal  traits  of  authors, 
and  the  names  and  character  of  their  several  productions, 
with  brief  selections  by  way  of  sample  and  illustration. 
Such  studies  seem  intended  to  improve  the  taste  and 
style  of  the  student,  and  the  result  expected  is  aptly  ex- 
pressed in  the  one  word  "culture."  Such  a  study  of  lit- 
erature is  wholly  inadequate,  and  even  misleading.  The 
literature  itself  is  the  proper  object  of  study. 

Books  contain  the  best  thinking  of  the  men  who  wrote 
them,  expressed  in  their  best  style,  elaborated  out  of  the 
real  experiences  of  life,  and  arranged  to  accomplish  noble 
ends.  The  man  who  masters  the  works  of  one  great 
author,  thereby  approximates  the  greatness  of  his  intel- 
lect, assimilates  into  himself  his  moral  force,  imbibes  the 
very  grandeur  of  his  conceptions,  and  appropriates  his 
knowledge  in  such  a  way  that  when  he  reproduces  it  in 
his  own  thinking,  it  comes  with  all  the  freshness  and 
vigor  of  absolute  originality.  Such  a  student  is  thus  so 
inspired  with  the  aims  and  impulses  of  his  author  that  he 
can  start  from  his  vantage  ground  and  achieve  yet  greater 
things.  The  culture,  which  is  in  itself  so  desirable,  is  the 
natural  and  incidental  product  of  such  study,  and  not  it- 
self the  prime  object  of  pursuit;  just  as  happiness  is  the 
result  of  the  pursuit  of  virtue,  and  is  not  itself  the  chief 


32  The  Scriptures, 

good.  The  student  of  literature,  therefore,  has  little  use 
for  books  about  literature,  except  as  he  needs  a  grammar 
or  a  glossary.  Some  men  study  literature,  again,  on  the 
same  principle  as  that  on  which  they  string  beads.  Memory 
is  the  string,  and  fine  figures,  racy  anecdotes,  striking 
allusions  and  fine  passages  of  rhetoric  are  strung  thereon 
for  ready  use.  To  such  a  student  of  literature,  a  cyclo- 
paedia of  quotations  or  a  concordance,  is  the  perfection  of 
tools. 

If  one  could  master  the  entire  literature  of  a  people, 
he  would  present  in  himself  a  marvel,  versatility  of 
genius,  profundity  of  thought,  universality  of  knowl- 
edge, the  climax  of  wisdom,  and  the  perfection  of  beauty. 
At  least,  he  would  realize  in  himself  all  these  things,  in 
so  far  as  they  are  found  in  the  literature  he  masters ;  and 
just  so  far  we  might  call  him  a  universal  man. 

Now,  there  is  a  literature,  the  absolute  mastery  of 
which  will  make  this  universal  man.  Greek  and  Roman 
literature  fall  far  short  of  such  perfection,  though  they 
ought  to  be  studied,  and  will  be  studied  till  the  end  of 
time — studied  as  the  fathers  of  English  literature  studied 
them.  The  literature  of  the  English-speaking  people 
falls  short  of  a  universal  literature,  except  so  far  as  it 
draws  its  inspiration  from  the  universal  fountain. 

There  is  a  literature,  unique  and  complete,  the  product 
of  a  remarkable  people,  extending  over  a  period  of  six- 
teen hundred  years,  the  expression  of  a  long-continued 
civilization — a  varying  and  widely-varied  civilization^ 
Allow  me  to  repudiate,  once  for  all,  the  terms  barbaric 
and  semi-barbaric,  as  applied  to  a  people  whose  law-giver 
was  divine,  and  whose  civil  king  and  supreme  judge  was 
the  Eternal  Son  of  God. 

The  literature  of  that  people,  comprised  in  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  is,  from  every 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  33 

point  of  view,  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  literatures. 
Modern  critics  call  it  a  literature  to  disparage  it;  we  call 
it  the  literature — The  Bible — to  exalt  it  and  to  locate  it 
among  literatures.  It  is  unlike  all  other  literatures  in 
that  it  is  both  human  and  divine.  We  approach  it  from 
the  human  side  and  find  it  as  distinctly  human  as  if  it 
were  all  human ;  we  approach  it  from  the  divine  side,  and 
find  it  as  distinctly  divine  as  if  it  were  all  divine — the 
analogue  of  the  real  Word,  the  God-man.  Its  facts  are 
all  attested,  its  conclusions  are  all  incontrovertible,  its 
principles  are  all  impregnable.  All  the  mere  human  pro- 
ductions of  that  people  have  been  eliminated  from  the 
compend,  and  have  in  the  main  perished. 

You  find  therein  all  the  valued  elements  and  forms 
of  literature:  history  and  biography,  poetry  and  proverb; 
philosophy  and  fiction,  civil  codes  and  social  customs, 
morals  and  religion,  and,  withal,  a  prophetic  vision 
which  sweeps  the  whole  arc  of  time,  from  the  creation  to 
the  final  glory,  and  unfolds  the  mysteries  of  two  eternities. 

Such  a  literature,  with  such  an  origin,  and  such  author- 
ship, may  well  be  set  forth  as  a  universal  literature;  and, 
bound  in  one  volume,  it  may  be  called  the  Universal  Book. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  limit  its  value  to  matters  spiritual,  asi 
is  the  fashion  in  some  quarters,  and  that  for  the  purpose 
of  disparaging  the  remainder,  and  with  the  result  of  de- 
stroying, or,  at  least,  damaging  the  whole.  Without 
quoting  its  own  claims,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  the 
whole  is  profitable,  and  that  none  of  its  parts  are  super- 
fluous. 

It  is  safe  and  proper,  just  here,  to  premise  a  few  things : 

(a)  This  literature  grew  in  volume  as  the  centuries 
passed,  just  as  other  literatures,  but  not  on  the  same 
principle.  Each  addition  to  these  last  is,  in  part,  the 
product  of  the  time  and  conditions  which  gave  it  birth, 


34  The  Scriptures, 

and,  in  part,  the  product  of  personal  genius,  while  the  ad- 
ditions to  the  Bible  are  but  the  working  out  of  a  plan  and 
purpose  by  one  author,  who  determined  the  whole.  This 
opens  up  the  question  of  the  object  and  scope  of  a  written 
revelation — a  question  discussed  in  the  last  chapter.  Suf- 
fice it  to  affirm,  that  it  is  not  an  evolutionary  product  of 
an  evolving  civilization,  but  rather  a  reducing  to  perma- 
nent form  of  the  doctrines  of  the  ages,  and  a  necessary 
consecutive  refutation  of  newly-rising  heresies.  The 
growth  of  the  volume  of  inspiration  kept  pace  with  ad- 
vancing perversions,  so  as  to  save  the  truth  against  the 
time  of  universal  apostasy. 

(b)  Each  separate  book  of  the  Bible  reflects  the  local 
color  and  conditions  of  its  author  and  times,  and  is  ex- 
actly adapted  to  the  immediate  end  for  which  it  was 
written.  This  does  not,  as  some  imagine,  mar  its  general 
utility,  but  rather  enhances  the  certitude  of  its  lessons. 

(c)  This  book,  like  all  other  books,  is  to  be  interpreted 
according  to  the  laws  of  language,  which  are  as  imperious 
as  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  an  honest  and  competent 
exegesis  carries  conviction  against  all  comers.  Sound 
exegesis  is  in  its  place  as  necessary  as  inspiration  itself. 

Now,  if  the  points  made  thus  far  be  accepted,  it  will 
hardly  be  necessary  to  prove  the  Bible  to  be  the  universal 
book ;  it  would  seem  sufficient  to  illustrate  the  same.  We 
need  not  forget,  however,  that  apt  illustrations  carry  with 
them  all  the  force  of  a  syllogism,  and  are  far  more  easily 
apprehended. 

I.  The  Bible  is  pre-eminently  a  book  of  facts — attested 
facts.  Now,  science  has  for  its  object  the  discovery  and 
proper  formulation  of  facts,  and  seeks  to  make  proper  in- 
ferences from  the  same,  by  processes  both  inductive  and 
deductive. 

True  science  must  include  all  necessary  data,  gathered 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  35 

from  observation,  experience,  and  competent  testimony. 
Now,  the  Bible  does  not  teach  science,  but  every  fact  in 
the  Bible  or  elsewhere  has,  or  may  have,  a  positive  scien- 
tific value — so  great  that  one  single  fossil  shell  found 
in  the  wrong  place  would  necessitate  the  destruction  and 
reconstruction  of  the  entire  classifications  of  one  noble 
science,  and  perhaps  the  modification  of  others  collateral. 
The  facts  of  the  Bible,  then,  are  the  primary,  fundamental 
facts  of  science,  attested  and  recorded  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
through  Moses  and  Daniel  and  Paul,  and  are  of  superior 
authentication  to  those  recorded  by  Humboldt,  Agassiz, 
and  Spencer.  The  science  which  ignores  those  primary 
Bible  data  is  partial,  misleading,  and  presumptively  false. 

1.  For  example,  the  science  of  philology  deals  with 
the  origin  and  growth  of  language.  The  philologist  finds 
certain  laws  operating  to-day  in  the  formation  of  dialects 
and  in  divergencies  of  speech,  and  existing  tongues  show 
the  operation  of  these  laws  in  the  past ;  and  he  concludes 
that  all  differences  of  language  originated  in  this  way. 
The  confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel  is  a  primary  fact,  and 
should  be  so  recognized.  The  failure  to  start  with  it  leads 
to  a  final  rejection  of  it. 

2.  Or  take  ethnology,  which  deals  with  the  origin  of 
nations  and  peoples.  The  true  starting  point  of  the 
science  is  found  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  where 
are  written  the  generations  of  the  sons  of  Noah :  "And 
by  these  were  the  nations  divided  in  the  earth  after  the 
flood." 

3.  Why  has  the  philosopher  sought  the  summum 
bonum,  man's  supreme  good,  in  vain,  except  that  he  has 
overlooked  the  revealed  fact,  that  "man's  chief  end  is  to 
glorify  God,  and  to  enjoy  him  forever." 

4.  In  ethics,  the  world  is  full  of  systems  and  theories, 
which  practically  ignore  "the  Fall,"  "total  depravity,"  and 


36  The  Scriptures, 

the  processes  of  "sanctification  by  the  Spirit."  There  are 
no  better  attested  facts  than  these  attested  in  the 
Scriptures. 

5.  In  psychology,  the  science  of  the  human  soul,  men 
of  the  largest  learning  and  ability  have  elaborated  plausi- 
ble.systems  of  every  shade,  from  absolute  materialism  on 
the  one  hand,  to  the  subtlest  idealism  on  the  other; 
whereas  the  surface  Bible  data  of  "body"  and  "spirit" 
are  the  starting  point  of  the  study  of  man. 

And  so  through  all  the  range  of  earth-born  sciences. 
In  their  conclusions,  they  do  sometimes  suggest  a  mis- 
taken exegesis  of  the  Scriptures — as  in  the  case  of  Gali- 
leo— but  they  cannot  convict  them  of  error.  All  truth 
is  a  unit  in  its  correlations,  and  presents  essential  har- 
mony at  all  overlapping  points.  How,  then,  shall  agnos- 
ticism formulate  a  science  in  harmony  with  revelation? 
Faith,  therefore,  remands  all  "science  falsely  so-called" 
to  revise  its  agnostic  conclusions,  and  to  introduce  Bible 
data  as  fundamental  and  paramount. 

II.  The  Scriptures  are  full  of  general  principles,  as 
zvell  as  attested  facts,  which  need  no  further  enunciation 
or  elucidation.  Indeed,  every  categorical  proposition  is 
closely  allied  to  and  dependent  on  some  general  truth. 
When  general  truths  are  once  duly  authenticated,  they 
rank  along  with  the  axiomatic  truths  by  which  they  have 
been  tested,  and  themselves  become  the  tests  of  other 
rational  processes.  This  is  true  in  mathematics.  Thus, 
when  once  it  is  proven  that  the  sum  of  the  three  angles 
of  a  triangle  is  equal  to  two  right  angles,  no  rational 
process  can  be  accepted  as  true  which  in  premise  or  con- 
clusion contravenes  this  theorem.  Now,  the  Scriptures 
are  full  of  principles  as  well  as  facts ;  and  what  is  a  prin- 
ciple but  the  statement  of  a  complex  fact?  These  prin- 
ciples are  sometimes  the  conclusions  of  rational  argument  5 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  37 

sometimes  the  utterances  of  a  sanctified  common  sense; 
and  sometimes  the  results  of  actual  experience ;  and  some- 
times the  more  formal  oracles  of  supreme  wisdom;  but, 
however  they  may  appear  to  be  set  forth,  they  have  tfod 
divine  imprimatur  and  the  seal  of  eternal  truth.  All  other 
truths  must  accord  with  them  or  be  rejected.  Rational- 
ism hates  these  fetters  and  scorns  their  limitations,  and 
claims  for  itself  the  inerrancy  which  it  denies  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  brings  all  truth,  human  and  divine,  to  the 
test  of  its  own  imperious  and  unwarranted  assumptions. 
The  principles  of  sound  morals  and  good  government,  of 
true  philosophy  and  common  sense,  are  all  found  in  this 
book  of  books,  and  woe  betide  all  that  varies  from  it.  The 
illustrations  of  this  will  be  more  apparent  as  we  illustrate 
this  broader  proposition. 

III.  The  Universal  Book  solves  all  the  problems  of  the 
ages.  Hebrew  civilization,  reaching  from  Abraham  to, 
John,  extending  over  two  thousand  years,  modified  by 
the  civilizations  of  Egypt  and  Babylon,  Assyria  and  Per- 
sia, Greece  and  Rome,  and  itself  modifying  them  in  turn, 
may  fairly  be  supposed  to  have  grappled  with  every, 
problem.  In  this  there  is  "nothing  new  under  the  sun." 
"That  which  has  always  been  shall  always  be."  Human 
nature  is  everywhere  and  always  the  same,  and  asserts  it- 
self under  varying  conditions.  The  same  things  in  es- 
sence are  re-enacted  in  divers  forms,  and  their  solutions 
are  substantially  the  same.  These  problems  are  of  su- 
preme interest  to  the  generations  engaged  in  their  solu- 
tion, and  they  inspire  the  literature  of  every  people.  It 
seems  fair  to  claim  that  this  literature  illumines  every 
human  path  with  the  light  of  divine  wisdom.  Take  the 
lowest  view  of  the  scope  of  revelation,  that  it  is  only  re- 
demptive. Redemptive  of  what?  Is  it  only  a  personal 
redemption?    This  view  is  too  narrow,  because  every  in- 


38  The  Scriptures, 

dividual  has  necessary  relations  to  every  other  individual. 
Is  it  not  also  the  redemption  of  the  family  and  of  the 
state?  The  race  is  to  be  redeemed,  socially,  politically, 
commercially  and  industrially,  if  ever  it  shall  come  to  pass 
that  "the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard 
shall  lie  down  with  the  kid,  and  the  calf  and  the  young 
lion  and  the  fading  together,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead 
them.  And  the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of 
the  asp,  and  the  weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the 
cockatrice's  den.  They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all 
my  holy  mountain,  for  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

The  revealed  word  is  adequate  to  all  the  race  results 
set  forth  in  these  wondrous  figures  of  speech.  The  Bible 
is  the  text-book  for  the  race;  it  touches  human  thought 
and  action  at  every  point,  and  may  well  regulate  the 
whole.    Let  us  cite  a  few  illustrations. 

1.  The  covenant  made  with  Noah  on  that  beautiful 
wSabbath  day,  when  he  came  out  of  the  ark,  and  ratified 
by  sacrifice,  and  sealed  with  the  bow  in  the  cloud,  as  if. 
the  very  sign-manual  of  heaven  were  written  across  the 
sky,  is  the  *'bill  of  rights"  for  the  race,  giving  the  guar- 
anty of  "life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 
Under  it  the  plowman  follows  his  furrow  and  the  reaper 
gathers  his  grain,  for  the  promise  is  that  "seed  time  and 
harvest  shall  not  fail."  Under  it  we  eat  flesh,  as  well  as 
the  fruits  of  the  ground,  and  the  eating  of  blood  is  for- 
bidden, because  it  is  the  life.  Under  it,  murder  is  pun- 
ished with  death ;  blood  redeemed  with  blood.  This  is  a 
covenant  for  the  race,  and  every  attempt  to  set  aside  its 
provisions  has  met  disaster  and  shame. 

2.  Or,  consider  the  God-given  right  of  representative 
free  government.  It  was  given  to  be  exercised  under  a 
warrant.     "Take    you    wise    men,    and    understanding, 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  39 

known  among  your  tribes,  and  I  will  make  them  rulers 
over  you."  "Able  men,  and  men  of  truth,  who  fear  an 
oath,  and  hate  covetousness."  So  long  as  the  choice  con- 
forms to  the  warrant,  a  nation  may  be  free,  but  when  the 
warrant  is  broken,  jure  divino  free  government  perishes 
in  anarchy  or  despotism. 

3.  Or,  take  another  illustration.  Aristocracies  have 
been  the  bane  of  republics  and  the  curse  of  all  peoples. 
The  Hebrew  commonwealth  had  such  checks  and  balances 
in  its  inspired  constitution  as  to  minimize  their  danger, 
if  not  to  make  them  impossible.  Aristocracies  are  a 
seven-headed  monster,  feeding  insatiate  on  helpless  popu- 
lations. History  tells  us  of  priestly  aristocracies,  blooded 
aristocracies,  landed  aristocracies,  monied  aristocracies, 
military  aristocracies,  literary  aristocracies,  and  prescrip- 
tive aristocracies.  It  were  an  interesting  study  to  see  how 
the  model  republic  was  guarded  against  all  these.  The 
author  hopes  to  discuss  this  elsewhere. 

4.  Take  another  illustration.  Adulterations  and  imita- 
tions characterize  the  civilization  of  which  we  constitute 
a  part.  Foods  and  medicines  are  adulterated.  Clothes 
and  shoes  are  shoddy;  tableware  and  jewelry  are  base  but 
brilliant  imitations ;  education  and  religion,  too,  have  their 
imitations  and  adulterations.  I  once  heard  the  cynical 
Irish  patriot,  Mitchell,  pronounce  the  word  "civilization" 
with  inimitable  scorn.  "A  hybrid  word,"  said  he,  "with 
a  Latin  head  and  a  Greek  tail,  whose  typical  product  is 
a  God-forbidden  mule."  I  do  not  know  how  far  he  under- 
stood the  divine  law  against  hybridization,  adulteration, 
and  spurious  imitations.  "It  is  confusion,"  says  the  di- 
vine law. 

5.  Take  a  last  illustration  out  of  hundreds  more.  The 
family  is  of  divine  origin;  its  constitution  is  of  divine 
authority,  the  primordial  unit  of  church  and  state,  and  the 


40  The  Scriptures, 

creature  of  neither,  one  woman  for  one  man,  an  indissolu- 
ble bond,  the  man  the  head  of  the  woman,  the  proper  sub- 
jection of  children,  the  autonomy  of  home,  the  end  a 
holy  seed.  But,  instead,  the  outcome  has,  too  often,  been 
polygamy,  easy  divorce,  young  America,  woman's  rights, 
boarding-house  life,  co-operative  nurseries  and  kitchens, 
and  the  relegation  of  childhood  and  youth  to  mere  hire- 
lings. Degrade  marriage  to  a  mere  co-partnership  be- 
tween equals,  to  be  dissolved  at  will  by  either  party  with- 
out social  stigma,  these,  and  a  host  of  other  evils,  sweep 
in  like  a  flood,  and  the  very  foundations  of  church  and 
state,  as  God  ordained  them,  are  destroyed.  Who  will 
construct  anything  better  out  of  the  ruins  ? 

In  conclusion,  i.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  every  phase  of 
man's  life  has  its  laws,  and  every  relation  in  life  has  its 
duties  and  responsibilities,  and  these  all  operate  so  like 
the  laws  of  the  physical  universe  that  men  talk  helplessly 
of  fortune  and  fate  and  destiny;  and  well  they  might,  if 
left  to  solve  the  problems  of  either  alone.  But  this 
Universal  Book  sheds  over  all  the  clear  light  of  a  divine 
purpose,  and  provides  for  every  exigency.  No  man,  nor 
people,  nor  nation  are  left  between  the  upper  and  the 
nether  mill-stone,  to  be  ground  to  powder,  except  as  the 
teachings  of  Scripture  are  neglected. 

2.  Some  study  the  Scriptures  devotionally ;  some  theo- 
logically ;  others  homiletically.  I  would  disparage  neither 
of  these,  except  it  be  exclusive.  Every  educated  man 
should  find  in  them  the  unification  and  interpretation  of 
all  sound  learning,  and  the  test  of  all  that  is  vicious  and 
inadequate.  There  is  nothing  good  in  human  thought 
and  action,  in  its  ultimate  product  and  analysis,  for  which 
we  do  not  find  a  warrant  there,  or  at  least  a  concrete  il- 
lustration. Nor,  is  there  any  human  heresy  which  is  not 
fairly  exposed  and  refuted,  either  expressly  or  by  implica- 
tion in  the  Word  of  God. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Canon  of  Scripture.    Is  It  Divinely  Authenti- 
cated ? 

THERE  are  many  interesting  questions  concerning 
the  Scriptures  which  are  not  yet  answered ;  and 
there  are  some  others  not  yet  formally  asked,  for  want 
of  a  definite  sense  of  their  importance.  If  all  could  be 
answered  in  a  satisfactory  way,  it  would  greatly  simplify 
Christian  apologetics,  and  supersede  much  hostile  criti- 
cism. It  has  been  long  a  matter  of  comment  that  most  of 
the  attacks  on  the  Scriptures  originate  either  in  ignorance 
of  the  matters  objected  to,  or  of  the  evidence  therefor, 
or  in  a  misapprehension  of  some  important  principle  or 
fact  on  which  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  hinges.  No 
question  has  occupied  more  attention  than  that  of  the 
authority  of  the  Canon. 

By  Canon  we  mean  the  authoritative  list  of  books  in 
our  Bible.  Such  questions  as  these  have  given  much 
trouble:  Why  does  the  Canon  include  certain  books  and 
exclude  others?  How  do  we  know  that  all  the  books 
have  been  included  or  excluded  that  ought  to  have  been  ? 
Did  the  list  of  books  need  an  inspired  authentication  as 
well  as  the  books  themselves? 

Various  answers  have  been  given  to  the  trend  of  these 
questions.  The  Papist  claims  the  obvious  necessity  for 
a  divine  authentication  of  the  Canon.  He  finds  it  in  the 
claimed  infallibility  of  "Mother  Church,"  in  the  exercise 
of  which  she  includes  in  her  list  certain  books  which 
Protestants  reject  as  spurious.     She  charges  Protestants 


42  The  Scriptures, 

with  rejecting  these  last  on  purely  rationalistic  grounds, 
and  on  a  mere  criticism  of  their  contents.  She  says  that 
if  we  reject  the  infallibility  of  her  councils  there  is  left 
us  no  authoritative  Canon.  The  Higher  Criticism,  in 
minimizing  the  miraculous,  and  in  reducing  inspiration  tq 
a  higher  action  of  merely  human  faculties,  finds  the  crit- 
erion of  all  truth  in  Christian  consciousness  discerning 
truth  as  its  own  sole  witness.  This  most  refined  form  of 
rationalism  finds  some  truth  everywhere,  both  inside  and 
outside  of  the  Scriptures,  and  makes  the  question  of 
canonical  authority  of  little  moment.  It  dismisses  Papist 
and  Protestant  alike  as  worshippers  of  a  kind  of  fetish 
called  the  Canon. 

It  is  not  now  the  purpose  to  give  these  critics  more 
than  a  passing  notice,  and  such  incidental  refutation  as 
may  follow  from  an  attempt  to  set  up  the  truth.  Nor  is 
it  our  purpose  to  make  formal  reply  to  the  Papist,  for  he 
seems  to  us  to  be  right  in  his  fundamental  proposition 
that  the  Canon  needs  divine  authentication.  His  mistake 
is  in  lodging  it  in  the  infallibility  of  his  church. 

We  are  concerned  with  the  Protestant  view.  We  be- 
lieve in  canonical  authority  for  each  and  every  book  in  the 
sacred  volume  as  received.  We  hold  this  view  in  the 
full  exercise  of  the  right  of  private  judgment  as  against 
the  claims  of  popes  and  councils.  But  how  do  we  reach 
it? 

We  get  it  first  by  tradition  and  by  authority,  just  a3 
we  do  the  most  of  our  knowledge  before  we  begin  to 
verify  for  ourselves.  Tradition  gives  presumptive  and 
prescriptive  authority,  even  though  we  do  not  accept  it 
as  final,  as  does  the  prelatist.  When  we  wish  further  con- 
firmation we  usually  discuss  the  claims  of  the  several 
books  themselves,  the  external  and  the  internal  evidence 
of   their   genuineness   and   authenticity,    both    separately 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  43 

and  as  parts  of  a  whole.  And  as  believers,  we  rely  on  the 
self-evidencing  power  of  the  Spirit  operating  in  our  hearts 
through  the  truth  and  giving  us  what  is  aptly  termed 
spiritual  discernment.  This  last  is  the  beginning  and  the 
end  with  most  minds,  and  ought  so  to  be,  for  it  is  an  ex- 
perimental knowledge  of  God  and  truth.  A  believer 
might,  however,  attain  this  from  having  seen  and  read 
one  single  gospel  or  epistle,  or  even  from  having  heard 
one  single  sermon  with  no  knowledge  of  the  Canon  as 
such.  Many  books  of  the  Bible  set  up  no  special  claim  to 
canonical  authority,  such  as  Esther  and  Ruth.  Is  the 
Canon  to  be  settled  only  by  an  examination  of  the  in- 
spiration of  each  several  book?  And  if  we  could  by  ex- 
amination determine  the  inspiration  of  any  book,  have  we 
a  right  to  assume  that  every  inspired  book  belongs  in 
the  Canon  and  was  enrolled  therein?  Our  writers  have 
realized  the  difficulty  of  a  final  argument  from  this  source. 
They  have,  therefore,  sought  to  set  up  the  Old  Testament 
Canon  on  the  authority  of  the  New.  Nor  is  there  any 
question  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  do  give  the  most 
abundant  and  satisfactory  testimony  to  the  exact  Canon 
as  it  stands  to-day.  Uninspired  authors  do  the  same,  but 
not  in  a  way  so  satisfying  to  the  believer  in  both  Testa- 
ments. 

Having  accepted  the  Old  Testament  Canon  on  the 
authority  of  the  New,  it  becomes  necessary  to  vindicate 
the  New,  else  both  are  put  into  the  same  jeopardy,  unless 
we  accept  as  final  and  satisfactory  the  usual  argument 
from  tradition  confirmed  as  already  outlined.  The  same 
instinct  that  seeks  divine  authentication  in  one  case  craves 
it  also  in  the  other.  Does  the  authority  of  the  whole 
Canon  depend  on  a  sound  induction  of  particulars,  and 
has  such  induction  been  exhaustive  both  by  comprehen- 
sion and  by  exclusion? 


44  The  Scriptures, 

The  more  we  look  at  this  matter,  the  more  we  feel  the 
need  of  an  attested  Canon,  carrying  with  it  the  same  au- 
thority as  a  list  of  books  that  we  claim  for  their  contents 
if  they  belong  to  it. 

It  does  not  seem  final  and  sufficient  to  rest  the  Old 
Testament  Canon  on  the  references  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles,  for  they  do  not  so  rest  it.  They  found  that 
Canon  in  existence  as  an  authorized  Canon,  settled  as 
against  the  Samaritans,  who  accepted  only  the  first  five 
books,  and  as  against  the  earlier  Sadducees,  who  rejected 
the  later  prophets.  The  question  therefore  recurs:  On 
what  authority  did  the  Jews  the  world  over  accept  it  as 
complete  and  authoritative?  Such  authority,  if  they  had 
it,  would  amply  justify  Christ  and  his  apostles  in  bringing 
all  their  claims  and  teachings  to  the  test  of  its  contents. 
An  appeal  to  it  was  a  final  appeal  to  divine  authority  itself 
divinely  attested. 

The  Old  Testament  Canon  was  settled  during  the  inter- 
mediate period  between  the  post-exilic  prophets  and 
Christ.  If  it  be  true,  as  is  commonly  stated,  that  the 
Jews  were  without  prophet  or  oracle  during  that  period, 
then  the  Canon  could  not  have  had  more  than  the  human 
authority  of  those  who  settled  it.  If,  however,  it  can  be 
shown  that  there  was  prophet  and  oracle  during  that 
period,  then  it  may  be  possible  to  connect  the  settling  of 
the  Canon  with  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  find  a  divine 
authentication.  To  this  new  question  let  us  therefore  ad- 
dress ourselves : 

i.  The  civil  government  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth 
was  a  theocracy,  in  which  the  Lord  Jehovah  was  the  civil 
head  or  king.  The  human  head,  whether  judge,  king,  or 
governor,  was  his  viceroy  who  ruled  in  his  name  and  by 
his  authority.  The  organs  of  communication  between  the 
king    and    his    viceroy  were  prophet  and  oracle.     The 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  45 

prophet  was  a  civil  functionary  as  well  as  a  religious 
teacher.  The  oracle  was  limited  to  the  high  priest,  and 
belonged  to  him  by  virtue  of  his  office,  as  will  be  shown 
presently.  If  we  are  right  in  claiming,  as  all  the  authori- 
ties do,  that  the  theocracy  continued  from  its  institution 
at  Mount  Sinai  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  with  a  claimed 
interregnum  during  the  period  of  the  kingdom  (which  is 
hardly  probable),  then  the  prophet  or  oracle,  or  both, 
were  a  necessity.  A  means  of  inter-communication  is  an 
essential  feature  of  a  theocracy.  Pagan  theocracies  had 
their  oracles.  The  Papacy,  which  claims  to  be  a  theocracy, 
has  been  consistent  in  claiming  infallibility.  We  thus 
have  an  a  priori  argument  for  the  existence  of  prophet 
and  oracle  down  to  the  time  of  Christ,  which  at  least 
raises  a  presumption  in  its  favor  sufficient  to  throw  the 
burden  of  proof  on  him  who  denies  it. 

2.  When  Zacharias,  the  father  of  John  the  Baptist, 
saw  the  vision  while  ministering  in  the  temple,  and  after- 
wards came  out  and  "could  not  speak  unto  them,"  the 
people  "perceived  that  he  had  seen  a  vision  in  the  temple ; 
for  he  beckoned  unto  them  and  remained  speechless." 
Luke  tells  the  story  so  simply  that  we  are  constrained  to 
conclude  that  the  people  were  no  strangers  to  such  mar- 
vels. We  need  hardly  quote  the  matter-of-fact  way  in 
which  Mary  received  her  vision,  nor  the  recorded  inspira- 
tion and  prophecies  of  Mary,  of  Elizabeth,  and  of  Zacha- 
rias,  given  before  Christ  was  born,  because  plausible  ex- 
ception might  be  taken  to  the  fairness  of  their  citation  in 
this  connection,  though  we  by  no  means  surrender  the 
right  to  do  so. 

3.  There  are  two  cases  much  more  to  the  point,  Anna 
and  Simeon.  Anna,  the  prophetess,  a  "widow  of  four- 
score years,  which  departed  not  from  the  temple,  but 
served  God  with  fastings  and  prayers  night  and  day,"  was 


46  The  Scriptures, 

only  exercising  her  prophetic  function  when  she  saw  the 
Babe,  and  "spake  of  him  to  all  them  that  looked  for  re- 
demption in  Jerusalem." 

Simeon  was  "just  and  devout,"  waiting  for  the  con- 
solation of  Israel;  and  the  Holy  Ghost  was  upon  him. 
and  it  was  revealed  unto  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost  that  he 
should  not  see  death  before  he  had  seen  the  Lord's 
Christ."  There  is  no  need  to  quote  his  beautiful 
prophecies. 

Now  both  these,  Anna  and  Simeon,  date  many  years 
back  into  the  intermediate  period  of  which  it  is  claimed, 
"they  had  neither  prophet  nor  oracle,"  and  cannot  in  any 
sense  be  called  a  part  of  a  new  dispensation. 

4.  Josephus  makes  mention  of  two  prophets  who  lived 
half  a  century  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  Simeon  or 
Pollio,  and  Sameas,  his  colleague.  The  former  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  father  of  the  Simeon  mentioned  in  Luke. 
Pollio  and  Sameas  were  president  and  vice-president  of 
the  great  Sanhedrim,  and  also  of  the  great  university  at 
Jerusalem,  and  were  the  most  learned  and  influential  of 
all  the  Jewish  doctors.  Josephus  not  only  tells  us  that 
they  were  prophets,  but  he  also  gives  some  of  their 
prophecies  and  their  fulfilment,  admixed  with  no  puerili- 
ties. Why  need  we  reject  or  even  suspect  his  story  when 
we  find  the  cases  of  Anna  and  Simeon,  belonging  to  sub- 
stantially the  same  period,  attested  by  the  inspired  his- 
torian? The  critic  complains  that  there  is  no  profane 
testimony  to  the  Scripture  prophet,  and  when  we  cite 
this  testimony  of  Josephus,  he  flippantly  rejects  the  whole 
because,  forsooth,  Josephus  played  the  sycophant  to  the 
victorious  Romans  in  his  history  of  the  Jewish  wars. 
Away  with  such  destructive  criticism. 

5.  The  crowning  fact,  however,  is  found  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  John.     In  that  last  council  of  chief  priests  and 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  47 

Pharisees,  in  which  it  was  decided  to  compass  the  death 
of  Jesus,  the  leading  argument  was  made  by  Caiaphas  in 
these  words:  "Ye  fools,  ye  know  nothing  at  all,  nor 
consider  that  it  is  expedient  for  us  that  one  man  die  for 
the  people,  and  not  that  the  whole  nation  perish."  The 
Evangelist  in  commenting  on  this,  says,  "This  he  spake 
not  of  himself,  but,  being  high  priest  that  year,  he  prophe- 
sied that  Jesus  should  die  for  that  nation."  In  other 
words,  he  prophesied  by  virtue  of  his  office  as  high  priest. 
John  evidently  knew  that  the  oracle  belonged  to  the  high 
priest  by  virtue  of  his  office,  even  though  the  office  had 
been  made  venal  by  the  Romans,  and  degraded  to  an 
annual  appointment.  Note  also  the  remainder  of  the 
prophecy,  "And  not  for  that  nation  only,  but  that  also  he 
should  gather  together  in  one  the  children  of  God  that 
were  scattered  abroad."  The  first  part  of  the  prophecy 
he  used  in  its  literal  terms  in  furtherance  of  their  ma- 
licious purposes ;  the  last  and  more  glorious  part  he  could 
neither  comprehend  nor  use.  We  have  here  a  case  like 
Balaam's,  officially  true,  personally  corrupt.  The  office 
of  Caiaphas,  and  his  prophecy  as  high  priest  belong  with- 
out question  to  the  theocracy  and  not  to  a  new  dispen- 
sation. 

6.  There  is  one  parallel  fact  which  bears  distinctly  on 
these  interpretations  by  way  of  corroboration.  God  did 
not  leave  his  people  without  miracles  of  power  as  well 
as  of  knowledge  for  a  testimony  during  the  intermediate 
period.  John  tells  us  of  this  also  in  the  fifth  chapter  of 
his  gospel :  "Now  there  is  at  Jerusalem  by  the  sheep  mar- 
ket a  pool,  which  is  called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Bethesda, 
having  five  porches.  In  these  lay  a  great  multitude  of 
impotent  folk,  of  blind,  halt,  withered,  waiting  for  the 
moving  of  the  water."  The  new  version  puts  the  next 
verse,  about  the  daily  visit  of  the  angel  to  the  pool,  on 


48  The  Scriptures, 

the  margin,  questioning  its  authority;  but  the  material 
facts  remain  the  same  if  this  verse  be  rejected  altogether 
on  what  many  regard  as  insufficient  grounds.  The  story 
is  familiar.  This  sanitarium,  so  aptly  named  Bethesda, 
"House  of  Mercy,"  was  an  old  institution  at  Jerusalem. 
The  five  porches  and  the  multitude  of  sick  folk,  and  the 
Sabbath  visits  of  numerous  friends  on  errands  of  mercy, 
were  all  a  Jewish  product,  and  the  cures  were  miracles  of 
power,  or  were  nothing.  John  evidently  believed  in  the 
whole,  but  mentions  it  only  incidentally,  not  so  much  to 
give  an  account  of  the  pool  and  its  cures,  as  to  tell  of  the 
malignity  excited  against  the  Master  for  healing  on  the 
Sabbath  day  the  impotent  man  who  had  so  long  been 
unable  to  avail  himself  of  the  God-given  cure.  Such  in- 
cidental mention  rather  strengthens  the  testimony  of  the 
historian.  Much  hostile  criticism  of  this  passage  gets  an 
honest  backing  in  the  supposed  necessity  of  eliminating 
the  miraculous  from  this  period  of  the  history.  The  facts 
cited  all  reinforce  each  other,  and  disarm  such  hostile 
criticism  arising  from  such  pre-judgment.  Indeed,  there 
is  no  presumption  against  either  miracle  or  oracle  at  any 
stage  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation.  Besides,  the  distinction 
of  Jewish  and  Christian  is  of  little  moment  in  this  connec- 
tion, for  Christianity  is  only  the  culmination  of  Judaism 
and  its  full  fruitage;  and  all.  the  prophecy  and  miracle 
connected  with  the  birth  of  Christ,  and  of  his  forerunner, 
John,  and  with  the  ministry  of  both,  are  in  their  last 
analysis  as  distinctly  a  part  of  Judaism  as  the  signs  and 
wonders  of  Sinai.  Nay,  more,  the  last  tragedy,  in  which 
they  slew  their  King  on  Calvary,  closes  the  theocratic 
covenant  set  up  at  Sinai;  and  the  darkness,  the  quaking 
earth,  the  rending  rocks,  the  opening  graves,  and  the  veil 
of  the  temple  rent  in  twain,  are  but  the  fitting  counter- 
parts of  Sinai's  scenes. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  49 

Let  us  return  to  the  question  of  the  Canon.  There  is 
no  denying  that  it  was  settled  in  the  intermediate  period. 
It  was  a  burning  question  in  its  day,  on  which  largely 
turned  the  long  and  bitter  feuds  of  Pharisees,  Sadducees, 
and  Samaritans.  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  so  important  a 
question  enlisted  the  best  talent,  the  largest  learning,  and 
the  highest  authority  to  be  found  among  the  Jewish 
people.  We  are,  therefore,  prepared  to  accept  the  sub- 
stantial truth  of  the  Jewish  traditions,  which  tell  us  that 
the  Canon  was  the  special  care  of  what  they  call  the 
Great  Synagogue,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  consisting 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  beginning  with  Daniel, 
the  prophet,  and  closing  with  Simon,  the  just,  running 
over  a  space  of  two  hundred  years,  and  including  the 
post-exilic  prophets  as  well  as  their  most  learned  doctors 
and  their  high  priests.  They  ascribe  much  work  to  Ezra 
and  his  associates,  and  much  also  to  the  last  on  the  list, 
Simon,  the  just,  whose  reputation  for  sanctity,  piety,  and 
learning  seems  to  overtop  all  the  rest,  himself  the  most 
famous  high  priest  of  his  people,  to  whom  also  belonged 
the  oracle  by  virtue  of  his  office,  as  it  did  to  all  his  pre- 
decessors. It  is  significant  also  that  numerous  traditions 
and  fables  of  the  supernatural  cluster  around  his  memory. 

We  are  warranted  in  accepting  the  work  of  such  men, 
itself  of  such  gravity  and  perfected  in  such  conditions,  as 
final  and  authoritative.  The  Jews  accepted  their  work 
as  having  the  divine  imprimatur  upon  it.  Not  only  are 
the  presumptions  all  in  its  favor,  but  the  evidence  is  all 
concurrent.  Such  claims  are  paramount  and  could  be 
set  aside  only,  if  at  all,  by  the  most  overwhelming  counter 
testimony,  and  that  indisputably  divine.  None  were  left 
to  question  the  authority  of  the  completed  Canon  except 
the  outside  Samaritan,  whose  voice  was  no  longer  heard 


50  The  Scriptures, 

and  to  whom  Daniel,  Ezra,  and  Simon  were  a  rejected 
tribunal. 

Starting  on  this  impregnable  foundation  of  divine  au- 
thority, Christ  and  his  apostles  enforced  their  claims  by 
continuous  reference  to  "Moses  and  the  prophets,"  with 
the  superadded  infallible  witness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
signs  and  wonders  following.  The  authority  of  that 
Canon  was  so  well  attested  that  Father  Abraham  could 
say  to  the  rich  man  in  torment,  "If  they  believe  not  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead." 

The  heresies  of  Christ's  day  did  not  attack  the  canoni- 
cal authority  of  a  single  book  on  the  list.  That  had  been 
settled  beyond  all  cavil ;  they  rather  perverted  and  nulli- 
fied certain  Scripture  teachings.  Here,  in  part,  originated 
the  necessity  for  those  additions  to  the  canon  which  we 
call  the  New  Testament.  Just  here  also  we  may  discover 
the  necessity  for  the  wondrous  miracles  of  that  gen- 
eration. 

The  miracle,  in  its  last  analysis,  is  the  prophet's  testi- 
monial, God  on  the  witness-stand  alongside  of  his  ser- 
vants guaranteeing  their  claims  and  avouching  their 
teachings.  The  numerous  miracles  of  Christ  served  this 
purpose :  "Believe  me  for  the  works'  sake ;"  every  word 
was  established  by  triple  testimony  of  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost.  Then  came  the  apostles  doing  "greater 
works  than  these,"  greater  certainly  in  their  number  and 
variety,  and  in  the  prodigious  number  of  miracle  workers, 
every  one  of  whom  was  a  proper  prophet  and  a  divinely 
commissioned  teacher.  We  hardly  realize  their  number. 
Beginning  with  Pentecost,  the  most  extraordinary  char- 
isms  of  the  Holy  Ghost  were  distributed  direct  from 
heaven  on  great  numbers,  as  also  on  Cornelius'  household. 
The  same  gifts  came  lavishly  on  all  on  whom  the  apostles 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  51 

laid  their  hands.  These  teachers  were  so  numerous  at 
Corinth  that  it  led  to  ambitious,  but  well-meant,  disorders. 

It  was  proper,  easy,  and  natural  that  the  writings  of 
inspired  teachers  should  be  received  as  of  equal  authority 
with  their  oral  teachings,  and  be  even  more  highly  prized 
because  of  their  permanent  value.  The  church  in  the  first 
century  of  its  existence  was  practically  a  miracle-working 
and  inspired  church.  One  of  the  apostles  lived  till  the 
close  of  the  first  century  in  the  full  exercise  of  his  facul- 
ties and  his  office,  and  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  some 
on  whom  he  had  conferred  the  charisms  of  the  Spirit 
lived  until  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  and  that 
multitudes  of  competent  witnesses  who  had  seen  them 
lived  to  a  much  later  date.  The  gradual  disappearance  of 
these  miraculous  gifts  must  be  recognized  if  we  would 
acount  for  variant  and  semi-contradictory  statements  of 
later  uninspired  writers  when  referring  to  the  continu- 
ance of  miracles  in  the  early  church. 

The  question  now  recurs:  How  was  the  New  Testa- 
ment Canon  settled?  On  what  principle  were  the  names 
of  the  several  books  enrolled  on  an  authoritative  list? 
It  is  confessed  that  the  list  was  perfected  and  promul- 
gated and  transmitted  by  uninspired  men  sitting  in  coun- 
cil. Did  they  sit  in  judgment  on  the  inspiration  of  each 
book,  and  pass  upon  it  as  an  original  question?  If  so, 
their  adjudication  was  only  a  matter  of  opinion  and  not 
final,  and  would  be  of  no  more  force  than  if  they  had  pro- 
mulgated the  meaning  of  any  passage  of  Scripture.  The 
best  human  opinions  are  subject  to  revision,  and  often 
need  it. 

Competent  human  testimony,  however,  is  final  as  to 
questions  of  fact,  Hume  to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding. 
It  is  here  that  the  human  and  the  divine  meet  in  our. 
faith.     We  need  a  divine  attestation  for  revelation,  and 


52  The  Scriptures, 

we  rely  on  human  testimony  to  perpetuate  the  facts  of  the 
attestation,  and  here  our  faith  rests  secure. 

Now,  the  acceptance  of  any  book  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment by  the  church  of  the  first  century  and  the  early  part 
of  the  second  as  authoritative  is  sufficient  evidence  of  its 
canonicity,  because  the  early  church  was  for  all  practical 
purposes  an  inspired  church,  and  the  consensus  of  that 
church  was  final  on  vital  matters.  This  would  be  the 
more  obvious  if  some  master  hand  would  discriminate 
among  the  promises  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  his  infallible 
guidance,  and  show  just  how  many  of  them  were  limited 
specifically  to  the  apostolic  church,  and  how  many  of  them 
were  of  general  application  to  the  end  of  time.  Such  a 
discrimination  would  be  of  great  value  to  settle  many 
other  matters  that  still  need  elucidation,  such  as  the  Papal 
infallibility,  witness  of  the  Spirit,  higher  life,  faith  cure, 
the  limitations  of  church  authority,  the  right  of  private 
judgment,  and  many  others.  The  reader  will  find  the 
author's  solution  of  these  burning  questions  in  his  little 
volume,  "Modern  Mysticism,  or  The  Covenants  of  the 
Spirit,  their  Scope  and  Limitations." 

The  real  question  to  which  the  fathers  addressed  them- 
selves was  this:  What  books  did  the  church  contempor- 
ary with  the  writers  receive  as  genuine  and  canonical? 
This  question  they  were  abundantly  competent  to  handle, 
for  the  evidence  was  all  accessible;  more  so,  however, 
for  some  books  than  for  others,  as  the  history  shows, 
Some  of  the  books  were  written  earlier  and  had  a  wider 
publication  than  others.  The  acceptance  of  these,  of 
course,  was  the  promptest.  Others  were  not  accepted 
universally  till  the  facts  were  known.  It  is  true  also  that 
some  of  the  books  were  strenuously  objected  to.  This 
goes  to  show  that  they  were  wide  awake  and  determined 
to  sift  all  the  evidence  so  as  not  to  be  imposed  upon  by 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  53 

candidates  for  canonization.  And  what  is  more  to  the 
point,  the  objections  raised  against  the  canonicity  of  cer- 
tain books  were  based  on  their  internal  character  and  in- 
nate difficulties,  as  was  notably  the  case  with  the  Book 
of  Revelation,  rather  than  on  any  lack  of  evidence  as  to 
authorship,  or  as  to  acceptance  by  the  contemporary 
church.  In  other  words,  the  objectors  sought  to  parry 
positive  evidence  by  arguments  purely  rationalistic,  a 
form  of  polemics  not  yet  obsolete. 

There  is  no  place  here  for  the  infallible  attestation  of 
" Mother  Church"  expressed  by  councils  or  otherwise,  nor 
is  there  any  need  of  it.  We  have  a  Canon,  both  the  Old 
and  the  New,  attested  by  those  who  were  as  competent  to 
do  so  as  the  authors  themselves  to  write  with  divine  au- 
thority. We  depend  on  competent  uninspired  testimony 
to  bear  witness  to  the  fact  of  such  attestation,  and  to 
transmit  the  list  of  the  books  as  a  substantial  fact,  just 
as  also  we  depend  on  testimony  for  the  contents  of  the 
books  themselves. 

The  case  before  us  may  not  be  made  out  as  lucidly  as 
could  be  desired,  nor  as  conclusively  as  may  be  possible 
from  a  more  careful  study  of  all  the  facts  bearing  on 
the  question ;  still,  there  is  no  other  hypothesis  that 
satisfies  the  necessities  of  the  problem  so  well.  The 
Sacred  Book  furnishes  us  an  infallible  standard  of  faith 
and  practice.  Its  authority  must  rest  on  other  attestation 
than  itself,  and  as  infallible  as  itself ;  otherwise,  the  argu- 
ment becomes  the  fallacy  of  reasoning  in  a  circle,  which 
has  often  been  shown  in  discussing  the  necessity  for  the 
miraculous  in  attestation  of  a  revelation  from  God.  God 
has  never  left  divine  truth  as  its  own  sufficient  witness. 

We  do  not  depreciate  the  value  of  special  evidence, 
both  internal  and  external,  to  the  genuineness  and  authen- 
ticity of  particular  books  of  the  Canon,  but  the  argument 


54  The  Scriptures, 

is,  in  the  main,  only  ancillary  and  confirmatory,  and  is 
adapted  to  silence  the  caviller,  or  to  strengthen  the  faith 
of  the  doubter.  Such  arguments  confirm  a  claimed  au- 
thority, but  do  not  lay  the  foundations  of  it. 

If  Christian  apologetics  shall  once  occupy  this  ground 
of  a  conceded  Canon  divinely  authenticated,  she  can  then 
cry  with  Paul,  "To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony,"  or 
with  Christ,  "It  is  written;"  her  weapons  shall  be  of- 
fensive instead  of  defensive ;  her  arrows  shall  be  sharp  in 
the  hearts  of  the  King's  enemies.  Modern  criticism,  a 
wild  and  careering  steed,  unmanaged  and  unmanageable, 
shall  then  be  broken  to  harness,  docile  as  any  cart-horse, 
When  genius,  and  faith,  and  critical  acumen  shall  work 
together  to  decipher  the  oracle  and  to  ascertain  what  is 
written,  and  ivhat  "saith  the  Holy  Ghost,"  then  shall  criti- 
cism herself  use  her  weapons,  destructive  and  remorse- 
less, but  "mighty  through  God,"  for  the  "pulling  down 
of  strongholds,"  and  for  "casting  down  imaginations  and 
every  high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  and  bringing  every  thought  into  captivity 
to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 

Note. — The  Jewish  Synod  of  Jamnia,  about  A.  D.  70,  issued 
an  authoritative  list  of  the  Old  Testament  books.  This  list 
is  claimed  to  be  the  same  as  that  recognized  in  Christ's  day 
and  subsequently  confirmed  by  Josephus.  The  action  of  this 
Synod  may  be  fairly  interpreted  as  declarative  against  certain 
new  sects,  the  Essenes  and  Zealots,  as  well  as  against  Sad- 
ducees  and  Samaritans,  some  of  whom  made  an  additional 
plea  for  certain  apochryphal  books,  while  some  perhaps 
objected  to  including  any  but  the  five  books  of  Moses.  This 
Council  did  not  make  the  list,  but  vindicated  and  declared  it. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Supernatural  in  the   Scriptures. 

WE  DIVIDE  all  entities,  and  all  their  activities  and 
relations,  into  two  classes :  The  natural  and  the 
supernatural.  These  are  correlated  as  creator  and  crea- 
ture, first  and  second  causes.  The  supernatural  is  the 
logical  and  necessary  condition  of  the  natural. 

In  definition,  we  start  with  the  natural.  The  etymology 
of  the  word  ''nature"  suggests  that  which  has  been  born, 
and  that  which  is  about  to  be  born — all  created  things  and 
their  continual  unfolding,  their  relations  and  correlations. 
We  give  the  name  to  the  finite  and  limited  world,  or  uni- 
verse of  matter  and  mind.  Then  the  personified  total  of 
all  finite  causes,  agencies  and  forces,  and  the  sum  of  all 
phenomena  in  their  action  and  reaction,  we  call  natural 
law.  In  nature,  the  number  of  individual  entities  is  prac- 
tically unlimited,  and  the  potentialities  are  limited  only 
by  possibilities. 

There  is  but  one  supernatural  essence  or  entity,  a  self- 
existing,  eternal  unit — not  a  mere  force,  but  a  person, 
having  intelligence  and  will,  and  clothed  with  all  the  in- 
finite attributes  necessary  to  originate,  control,  and  direct 
nature  and  all  its  possibilities.  This  infinite  God  and  his 
attributes,  all  his  activities,  all  the  modes  and  methods  of 
his  administration,  and  all  the  manifestations  and  revela- 
tions of  himself,  we  comprehend  under  the  name  super- 
natural. 

Supernaturalism  recognizes  divine  agencies,  miracles; 
revelations   and   spiritual   influences  as  they  seem   to  be 


56  The  Scriptures, 

recorded  in  the  Bible,  and  as  expounded  in  the  creeds  and 
formularies  of  orthodox  churches. 

Naturalism  minimizes  and  largely  rejects  the  super- 
natural elements  in  the  Biblical  record,  and  makes  nature 
and  nature's  laws  the  sufficient  source  and  origin  of 
much,  if  not  all,  that  is  usually  ascribed  to  the  super- 
natural.   It  reduces  the  supernatural  to  the  natural. 

Naturalism  in  its  totality,  leaves  us  a  book,  but  no 
Bible;  in  its  partial  claims,  it  leaves  us  but  little  of  our 
traditional  Bible.  In  its  last  analysis,  creation,  human 
history,  codes,  institutions,  morality,  and  religion,  are 
made  the  evolutionary  products  of  nature's  forces.  It 
sinks  every  thing  into  a  dreary  evolution,  materialism; 
and  fatalism. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  confute  these  naturalistic 
heresies,  nor  to  set  up  and  defend  the  claims  of  super- 
naturalism,  except  incidentally.  We  simply  propose  to 
trace  the  supernatural  in  the  Scriptures,  according  to  the 
traditional  view,  and  to  see  how  far  it  is  of  the  very  es- 
sence of  the  Scriptures,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation. 

Supernatural  works,  activities,  and  processes,  as  re- 
vealed in  the  Bible,  fall  under  five  well-defined  classes: 
Creation,  Providence,  Inspiration,  Miracle  and  the  Re- 
demptive processes.  These  we  have  discussed  more  or 
less  fully  in  other  connections.  It  is  here  only  necessary 
to  define  these  terms. 

i.  Creation.  God,  in  creation,  originated  the  natural,, 
set  up  nature's  laws,  and  established  the  present  order  of 
things.  By  absolute  creation,  he  created  matter  and  spirit 
out  of  nothing.  By  relative  creation,  he  created  the  pres- 
ent cosmos,  and  filled  the  earth  with  teeming  vegetable 
and  animal  life,  using  materials  already  existing.  He 
wrought  directly  by  his  supreme  power,  without  the  use 
of  second  causes,  for  he  created  them.  The  divine  fiat 
was  the  creative  act.     (Heb.  xi.  2;  Ps.  xxxiii.  6-9.) 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  57 

2.  Providence.  "God's  works  of  providence  are  his 
most  holy,  wise,  and  powerful  preserving  and  governing 
all  his  creatures  and  all  their  actions."  Here  is  the  di- 
vine immanence,  with  no  hint  of  pantheism.  (Acts  xvii. 
28;  Col.  i.  17;  Eph.  i.  11.)  In  Providence,  he  works  in 
accordance  with  and  through  second  causes.  This  doc- 
trine dates  back  to  the  beginning.     (Gen.  iv.  1,  25.) 

3.  The  Redemptive.  Christ,  in  the  flesh,  wrought  a 
redemption  to  be  applied  to  sinners.  The  actual  redemp- 
tion of  each  sinner  requires  supernatural  agencies,  instru- 
mentalities, powers  and  processes,  wrought  in  and  for 
him,  and  accomplishing  his  regeneration,  justification, 
adoption,  sanctification,  and  final  glorification.  These  we 
call  redemptive,  as  the  third  form  of  the  supernatural. 
These  all  have  been,  are,  and  shall  always  be  wrought 
by  the  same  Spirit  who  seals  and  applies  to  believers  the 
benefits  of  redemption  purchased  by  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  Inspiration.  The  books  of  the  Bible  were  written 
by  men  who  were  in  a  true  sense  the  authors.  But  the 
Scriptures  claim  a  divine  authorship,  effected  through 
human  agents.  "Holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  (2  Pet.  i.  21.  Compare  Heb. 
i.  1,  2.)  This  we  call  inspiration — also  prophecy,  that  is, 
speaking  for  God  under  the  inerrant  teaching  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Their  teachings  and  writings,  whether  historical, 
doctrinal,  preceptive,  or  predictive,  were  determined  by 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  prophets'  refrain  was  "Thus  saith 
the  Lord,"  "The  word  of  the  Lord,  "The  Holy  Ghost 
saith,"  and  such  like.  Unity  of  authorship,  by  and 
through  a  number  of  authors,  is  the  claim.  If  this  be  true, 
the  Scriptures  are  not  a  natural  product  of  mere  human 
intelligence,  as  other  books  are,  but  a  supernatural  pro- 
duct of  divine  intelligence.     Is  this  claim  true? 

5.  Miracle.  The  prophet  needed  testimonials.  His  mis- 


58  The  Scriptures, 

sion  must  be  attested.  His  message  must  be  duly  authen- 
ticated. How?  He  that  sent  the  Messenger  and  the 
message,  must  furnish  the  credentials.  Neither  natural 
law  nor  ordinary  providence  could  attest  an  extraordinary 
messenger,  much  less  may  he  furnish  his  own  papers. 
The  miracle  was  divinely  wrought  for  confirmation.  God 
on  the  witness  stand,  alongside  of  his  prophet,  attests  his 
servant  by  sensible  signs,  which  cannot  be  forged, 
imitated  or  disputed;.  This  is  the  Bible  doctrine  of 
miracles. 

We  do  not  propose  any  exhaustive  discussion  of  these 
five  sub-divisions  of  the  supernatural,  but  simply  to  define 
them  sufficiently  for  recognition  in  all  ordinary  cases 
where  they  are  found  in  the  Scriptures.  We  may  also 
note  their  logical  and  necessary  coherency  throughout. 
We  may  also  well  inquire  if  they  do  not  constitute  the 
very  warp  and  woof  of  the  Bible,  so  that,  if  they  be 
minimized,  and  if  they  be  eradicated  or  explained  away, 
there  will  be  nothing  of  value  left. 

There  may  be,  and  probably  there  are,  certain  recorded 
acts  and  activities  which  evidently  claim  to  be  super- 
natural, and  which  are  not  so  readily  reduced  to  the 
classification  given  above.  The  flood,  the  crossing  of  the 
Red  Sea,  the  giving  of  manna  for  forty  years,  the  fall 
of  Jericho  and  other  theocratic  victories,  the  virgin  birth 
of  Christ,  and  other  things,  may  seem  not  to  fit  our 
classification  and  definitions  exactly.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  our  argument  in  this  discussion  to  solve  the  difficulty 
of  classification,  provided  we  recognize  them  as  belong- 
ing to  the  realm  of  the  supernatural,  and  that  the  Scrip- 
tures so  claim. 

It  may  not  be  amiss,  however,  to  say  that  the  things 
cited  are  not  single  acts  or  activities,  but  are  complex, 
and   when   analyzed,  the   single  activities  may  easily  be 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  59 

classified.  For  example,  in  the  story  of  the  manna,  wei 
find  predictive  prophecy,  divine  communication,  doctrine, 
providence,  miracle  and  creative  act. 

Just  so  far  as  any  or  all  of  the  supernatural  activities 
as  above  clessified  are  facts,  they  are  the  facts  of  history — 
of  Bible  history.  Bible  history,  like  all  other  history,  is 
biographical.  It  records  the  acts  and  doings  of  persons. 
In  addition  to  the  men  and  devils  and  angels  mentioned 
in  Bible  history,  we  have  revealed  on  every  page  the  three 
persons  in  one  God,  making  history.  Every  act  and  do- 
ing of  all  these,  as  recorded,  is  part  of  the  history.  Every 
code  of  laws,  every  written  record,  every  poem,  proverb, 
and  epistle,  every  precept  and  promise,  every  doctrine 
and  every  revelation,  these  all  are  part  of  the  history, 
because  they  are  the  product  of  active  persons.  They  are 
just  as  much  facts  of  the  history  as  ordinary  historical 
narrative.  The  entire  Bible  is,  therefore,  a  book  of  his- 
tory. It  professes  to  be  a  record  of  facts.  We  may 
therefore  put  the  question  in  this  form:  How  far  is  the 
supernatural  necessary  to  the  integrity  of  the  Book?  Or 
in  this  form:  If  the  supernatural  be  eliminated,  how 
much  have  we  left?  Every  section  or  segment  of  the 
history  clusters  about  one  or  more  human  biographies ; 
the  entire  book  clusters  about  its  divine  author,  and  is  the 
divine  biography,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned  to  know  it. 
These  Scriptures  teach  "what  man  is  to  believe  con- 
cerning God,  and  what  duties  God  requires  of  man" — an 
"infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice." 

First.  Let  us  begin  with  Noah.  This  is  the  flood  period 
of  the  history.    We  may  note  the  supernatural  here. 

1.  God  passed  sentence  on  the  apostate  race,  and  de- 
termined to  destroy  them  with  a  flood  of  waters.  We 
have  a  record  of  this  supernatural  act. 

2.  One  man,  Noah,  was  saved  from  the  universal  apos- 


60  The  Scriptures, 

tasy  by  providence  and  redemptive  grace.  According  to 
the  Scriptures,  every  righteous  man  has  redemptive  grace 
and  providential  care. 

3.  God  revealed  his  purpose  to  Noah  by  theophany, 
dream,  or  some  other  form  of  inspiration. 

4.  God  foretold  the  flood  at  the  end  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years.    This  was  predictive  prophecy. 

5.  God  gave  him  minute  plans  for  building  the  ark, 
which  he  followed  accurately.  This  was  another  divine 
communication. 

6.  After  the  ark  was  finished,  God  gave  him  directions 
for  saving  his  family  and  also  animals,  and  for  providing 
a  supply  of  food  for  all. 

7.  When  the  time  came,  all  beasts  and  birds  and  creep- 
ing things  went  into  the  ark,  by  twos  and  by  sevens,  led 
by  an  unerring  and  invisible  hand;  and  all  on  the  self- 
same day  with  Noah  and  his  family.  This  was  super- 
natural also. 

8.  The  Lord  shut  him  in,  at  the  same  time  shutting  out 
all  others,  man  and  beast  and  creeping  things. 

9.  It  rained  forty  days,  and  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  were  broken  up.  Was  this  only  a  cataclysm  of 
nature's  forces  under  the  operation  of  natural  law? 
Hardly.  However,  admit  it  to  be  so;  who  adjusted  all 
the  details  to  each  other,  so  as  to  execute  the  divine  pur- 
poses?   There  is  but  one  answer. 

10.  "God  made  a  wind  to  pass  over  the  earth  and  the 
waters  were  assuaged ;  the  fountains  of  the  deep  and  the 
windows  of  heaven  were  stopped,  and  the  rain  from 
heaven  was  restrained."  Was  this  by  divine  fiat,  or  by 
providential  control  of  nature's  forces  ?  For  the  purposes 
of  our  argument,  it  makes  little  difference  which;  but 
we  remember  that  the  same  Lord  spake  to  the  boisterous 
wind   and    tempestuous    waves    on    the    sea    of    Galilee, 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  61 

"Peace,  be  still ;  and  there  was  a  great  calm."    Why  mini- 
mize the  divine  fiat  ? 

it.  At  the  end  of  one  year  and  ten  days,  "God  spake 
unto  Noah"  and  bade  him  go  forth  with  his  family  and 
all  the  living  cargo  aboard. 

12.  When  Noah  built  his  altar,  and  made  his  great 
holocaust,  taking  one  of  every  clean  beast  and  of  every 
clean  bird,  "The  Lord  smelled  a  sweet  savor;"  and  he 
"Said  in  his  heart,"  and  registered  that  wonderful  decree 
found  in  Genesis  viii.  21,  22.  He  promulgated  it  also,  else 
we  would  not  have  the  record  of  it. 

13.  The  same  day  God  blessed  Noah,  and  gave  him 
that  covenant  for  "all  flesh,"  as  found  in  Genesis  ix.  1-17, 
and  ratified  and  sealed  it  with  the  bow  in  the  cloud.  This 
was  the  bill  of  rights  for  the  race,  under  which  we  are 
entitled  to  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuits  of  happiness." 

14.  Once  more.  After  Noah's  son,  Ham,  dishonored 
his  father,  God  gave  to  Noah  the  brief  but  far-reaching 
predictive  prophecy  concerning  his  posterity,  as  found  in 
Genesis  ix.  25-27. 

Now,  suppose  that  these  fourteen  supernatural  things 
were  eliminated  from  Noah's  brief  biography,  how  much 
would  be  left?  Perhaps  this:  Noah,  the  unknown  cap- 
tain of  a  sea-going  vessel,  in  an  unmarked  time  of  un-» 
accountable  disaster.  Yet,  there  are  some  who  remand  all 
these  supernatural  activities  to  the  limbus  of  the  supersti- 
tious fancies  and  poetic  license  of  exaggerating  Asiatics. 
They  would  remand  the  flood  itself  to  the  realm  of  myth 
and  legend,  but  for  a  world-wide  tradition,  confirmed  to 
them  by  a  certain  flood  tablet,  dug  up  in  the  East,  from 
which  Moses,  or  beitter,  some  unscrupulous  redactor 
elaborated  our  present  Bible  record. 

Second.  It  would  be  easy  to  take  the  biography  of 
Adam,  including  his  immediate  family,  and  analyze  it  ia 


62  The  Scriptures, 

the  same  way,  and  point  out  every  supernatural  agency 
or  activity  mentioned  in  the  record.  We  would  find  the 
supernatural  so  interwoven  with  every  other  thing  in 
the  history,  that  one  could  not  have  been  real  without 
the  other.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  those  who 
minimize  or  reject  the  supernatural,  also  reject  the  his- 
toricity of  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  to  the  no  small 
damage  of  doctrine  throughout  the  Scriptures.  If  there 
wrere  no  first  Adam  sinning,  how  could  there  be  a  second 
Adam  saving?  The  tendency,  therefore,  is  to  make 
Christ  a  great  moral  reformer,  and  to  reduce  all  super- 
natural redemptive  processes  to  mere  personal  reforma- 
tion.    In  ail  this,  there  is  a  necessary  logical  coherency. 

They  claim,  however,  that  the  poetic  and  allegorical 
stories  of  Genesis  are  of  great  value,  and  do  teach  great 
spiritual  truths.  Spiritual  truths?  All  spiritual  truth  is 
of  divine  origin,  and  has  been  communicated  to  man  by 
the  Holy  Spirit.  This,  at  least,  is  supernatural.  If  the 
Spirit  stands  sponsor  for  the  lessons  taught,  he  must  also 
stand  sponsor  for  these  so-called  fables  and  allegories 
that  teach   them.     This  is  inspiration. 

Third.  It  would  be  easy  also  to  analyze  the  extended 
biography  of  Abraham,  and  show  that  there  is  little 
left  when  we  eliminate  all  the  supernatural  elements,  and 
all  that  is  based  thereon.  It  is  small  wonder,  then,  that 
naturalism  makes  Abraham  a  myth  of  an  early  day,  gar- 
nished with  many  superstitious  and  impossible  fancies. 
We  need  not  pause  to  show  what  a  toppling  structure 
Paul  built  on  this  conceit,  "If  ye  be  Christ's,  then  are 
ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise." 

Fourth.  Naturalism  disposes  of  Job  in  the  same  way. 
perhaps  with  more  literary  encomium  and  dignity.  They 
make  the  book  of  Job  a  great  epic,  conceived  and  ex- 
ecuted by  some  great  unknown  author  of  Miltonic  inspira- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  63 

tion  and  genius.  They  forget  that  Milton's  genius  only 
arranged  and  elaborated  the  facts  and  truths  gotten  from 
inspiration.  Who  furnished  the  author  of  Job  the  eter- 
nal truths  and  facts  for  his  great  epic,  and  how  ? 

Fifth.  We  must  needs  discuss  Moses  more  in  detail* 
for  he  is  the  storm-centre  of  the  warfare  between  natural-i 
ism  and  supernaturalism.  His  biography  covered  120 
years  of  history,  formative  history  for  his  people.  The 
events  of  his  period  determined  the  destinies  of  con- 
tiguous nations  and  peoples.  His  codes,  his  institutions, 
his  moral  system,  and  his  histories  shall  affect  the  desi 
tinies  of  men  till  the  end  of  time.     But  how  and  why? 

1.  When  Moses  was  born,  his  parents  hid  him  for  three 
months,  not  fearing  the  king's  commandment.  Paul  says 
they  did  this  by  faith.  Faith  has  a  God-given  warrant  to 
rest  upon.  This  warrant,  whether  general  or  specific,  has 
a  supernatural  origin  in  some  one  of  the  usual  forms  of 
revelation. 

2.  His  discovery  and  adoption  by  Pharaoh's  daughter 
was  a  signal  case  of  special  providence,  by  which  he  was 
educated  and  prepared  till  forty  years  old,  for  his  great 
mission.  When  his  people  rejected  him,  the  same  provi- 
dence directed  his  sojourn  in  Midian,  till  they  were  ready 
to  receive  him  as  their  deliverer. 

3.  In  Horeb,  he  met  the  Lord  in  the  burning  bush.  He 
received  his  commission,  and  all  the  instruction  and 
promises  needed.  His  faith  was  confirmed  by  the  miracles 
of  the  serpent-rod  and  the  leprous  hand,  and  he  was 
directed  to  use  these  miracles  in  Egypt.  Here  were,  at 
the  least,  four  distinct  supernatural  actions. 

4.  He  used  these  two  signs,  and  also  the  sign  of  water 
turned  to  blood,  before  his  own  people,  when  covenanting 
with  them  to  lead  them  out  of  Egypt,  and  also  before 
Pharaoh  when  he  formally  demanded  their  release.  These 


64  The  Scriptures, 

repititions  count  six  supernatural  events,  for  God,  and  not 
Moses,  was  the  real  miracle-worker,  attesting  the  mes- 
senger and  his  message. 

5.  When  Pharaoh  refused,  and  defied  the  Lord  God. 
and  threw  down  the  gage  of  battle,  backed  by  the  magi- 
cians, Jannes  and  Jambres,  and  by  all  the  hierarchy  of  the 
Egyptian  Pantheon,  Moses  accepted  the  challenge  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  The  battle  of  the  gods  raged  for  a 
year  in  the  field  of  Zoan  and  throughout  Egypt,  until 
their  gods  were  all  overthrown,  their  adherents  fled  be- 
fore Moses,  and  their  entire  hierarchy  was  laid  low  in  the 
death  of  the  first-born,  from  the  palace  to  the  hovel. 

Here  we  count  ten  great  plagues  and  as  many  more, 
and  perhaps  twice  as  many  more,  special  communications 
to  Moses,  all  of  which  are  to  be  counted  as  supernatural 
events. 

6.  We  need  hardly  recount  the  crossing  of  the  Red 
Sea,  the  sweetening  of  the  waters  at  Marah,  the  war  with 
the  Amalekites,  the  giving  of  the  manna,  and  the  smiting 
of  the  rock  for  water  at  Meribah,  and  all  the  personal 
divine  communications  to  Moses  from  Rameses  to  Sinai; 
except  to  say  that  the  Bible  record  here  is  the  record 
of  a  supernatural  history. 

7.  How  much  more  is  the  record  of  events  at  Sinai 
for  a  year  a  supernatural  history.  The  giving  of  the  law. 
moral,  civil,  social,  typical,  ceremonial,  religious  and  ec- 
clesiastical, is  all  to  be  counted  as  part  of  this  super- 
natural history,  and  the  Lord  becomes  the  theocratic  head 
of  the  civil  commonwealth,  as  well  as  their  personal  God 
and  Saviour. 

8.  After  they  left  Sinai,  with  manna  for  their  daily 
food,  and  following  the  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  and  the 
pillar  of  fire  by  night,  the  history  for  forty  years  (the 
entire  record)    is  a  supernatural   diurnal  history.     The 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  65 

Angel  of  the  Covenant  is  their  king  and  leader,  and 
Moses,  his  viceroy,  held  constant  converse  with  him,  face 
to  face.  There  seems  to  be  no  historic  event  in  all  these 
years,  whether  prosperous  or  disastrous,  which  does  not 
present  the  Lord  as  the  supreme  actor  in  it  all. 

9.  If  now  we  eliminate  the  supernatural  from  this  life 
and  history  of  Moses,  there  is  nothing  left  except  perhaps 
this:  That  some  nomadic  tribes  left  Egypt  and  dwelt 
in  the  desert  till  they  became  strong  enough  to  dispossess 
certain  other  peoples  in  Palestine,  and  that  in  the  course 
of  centuries — say  a  thousand  years — the  Hebrew  peoples 
and  institutions  'were  developed  out  of  these  semi-bar- 
barous nomads.  Naturalism  boasts  of  going  all  this 
length  in  rejecting  the  supernatural. 

Others,  however,  stop  at  a  half-way  house,  and  mini- 
mize the  supernatural,  accepting  some  things  and  set-* 
ting  others  down  to  the  imaginings  of  a  rule  and  uncul- 
tured people,  themselves  sampling,  accepting  or  rejecting 
details  according  to  their  own  subjective  taste. 

10.  How  about  the  authorship  of  the  books  of  Moses  ? 
We  have  no  trouble  with  that  matter  if  we  accept  the 
record  of  the  supernatural  as  found  therein.  It  we  reject 
it,  it  makes  but  little  difference  what  may  be  the  latest 
theory  of  their  origin.  The  Mosaic  authorship  had  un- 
disputed right  of  way  for  more  than  three  thousand  years. 
It  was  accepted  by  the  most  learned  Jewish  Rabbis  and 
doctors  down  to  the  time  of  Christ,  also  by  Christ  and 
his  apostles,  and  ever  since  by  Jews  and  Christians  alike. 
No  rival  claimant  has  ever  appeared  in  the  field,  much 
less  had  a  following.  It  has  been  left  for  modern  Chris- 
tians (?)  to  challenge  the  consensus  and  the  beliefs  of 
ages,  and  to  reject  the  supernatural  in  the  books,  and 
then  to  expound  the  residuum  according  to  the  conceits 
of  their  evolutionary  philosophy. 


66  The  Scriptures, 

ii.  The  contemporaries  of  Moses,  according  to  the 
history,  were  convinced  of  the  divine  origin  and  authority 
of  Mosaic  institutions  by  the  constant  manifestations  of 
the  supernatural.  But  they  did  not  receive  them  with 
an  easy  and  ignorant  credulity;  they  did  not  submit  to 
innovations  in  law  and  custom  without  overwhelming 
proofs.  Sometimes  they  did  not  submit  until  after  the 
most  gigantic  struggles  against  Moses  and  against  God. 
The  history  of  their  rebellions  is  the  history  of  those 
struggles.  The  judgments  and  the  plagues  from  the 
Lord  often  closed  the  controversy.  The  most  notable  in- 
stance of  this  was  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and 
Abiram.  Even  in  that  case,  when  nothing  seemed  left 
to  them  but  despair,  the  Lord  gave  them  a  peaceful  as- 
surance of  his  claims  by  the  budding  of  Aaron's  rod,  and 
so  the  incident  was  closed. 

We  may,  however,  reverse  the  argument  from  our 
point  of  view,  and  say  that  we  cannot  account  for  Hebrew 
institutions  unless  we  accept  the  account  of  their  super- 
natural origin.  Circumcision,  the  Passover  feast,  and 
the  feast  of  Tabernacles,  are  monumental  customs  which 
attest  the  story  of  their  origin  more  signally  than  monu- 
ments of  stone. 

12.  It  would  seem  to  be  sufficient  for  a  sound  induc- 
tion in  the  issue  before  us  to  cite  the  five  cases,  so  far 
analyzed,  as  concrete  units  of  the  history,  and  to  show, 
as  we  have  done,  that  the  supernatural  is  of  the  very  es- 
sence of  the  history,  and  may  not  be  eliminated  without 
its  destruction.  It  would  be  competent  for  us  to  argue 
from  these  to  the  whole  of  the  Scriptures.  But  we  take 
two  additional  and  more  comprehensive  views. 

Sixth.  The  entire  sweep  of  the  history,  from  Joshua 
down  to  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  Canon. 

I.  Joshua  was  the  civil  and  military  viceroy  of  Jehovah, 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  67 

the  theocratic  head  of  his  people.  He  made  but  one  mis- 
take in  his  administration,  and  then  he  failed  to  consult 
the  divine  oracle.  In  sketching  his  administration  rapidly, 
we  can  but  note  the  crossing  of  Jordan,  the  fall  of  Jeri- 
cho, the  incidents  at  Ai,  and  the  hail-stones  upon  the 
enemy  when  he  fought  the  allied  kings,  so  that  more 
died  from  the  hail-stones  than  fell  by  the  sword.  At  his 
command,  the  sun  stood  still  in  the  midst  of  heaven 
about  a  whole  day.  He  divided  the  land  by  lot  under 
divine  direction,  and  ordered  all  things  by  divine 
guidance. 

2.  The  judges  were  extraordinary  deliverers — divinely 
appointed  civil  and  military  rulers.  "The  time  would 
fail  us  to  tell  of  Gideon,  and  of  Barak,  and  of  Sampson, 
and  of  Samuel,"  who,  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms, 
quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  out  of  weakness  were  made 
strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  and  turned  to  flight  the 
armies  of  the  aliens. 

3.  The  kingdom  was  divinely  constituted,  and  the 
kings  were  nominated  and  regulated  by  prophet  and 
oracle.  The  theocratic  king  fought  their  battles  so  long 
as  they  kept  his  covenant  and  trusted  his  promises. 
Those  who  were  recreant  and  apostate  were  rebuked  and 
then  overthrown  down  to  the  captivity.  Both  the  cap- 
tivity and  the  return  were  foretold,  and  only  accomplished 
by  divine  agency. 

4.  The  era  of  the  prophets  overlapped  the  entire  his- 
tory from  Samuel  to  the  restoration  after  the  captivity 
and  till  the  close  of  the  canon.  Their  commission  had  no 
lack  of  attestation.  Their  inspired  teachings  and  writings 
kept  the  people  in  constant  contact  with  the  supernatural. 

Thus  we  see  at  a  glance  that  the  entire  sweep  of  the 
history,  and  of  the  divine  administration,  from  Joshua  to 
the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  Canon  was  so  interwoven 


68  The  Scriptures, 

with  the  various  forms  of  the  supernatural,  that  we  may 
not  extract  a  single  thread  without  doing  violence  to  the 
entire  fabric. 

Seventh.  We  may  take  a  similar  comprehensive  glance 
at  the  New  Testament. 

i.  The  stories  of  Zacharias,  Elizabeth,  Mary,  Anna, 
and  Simeon,  in  their  entirety,  are  accounts  of  super- 
natural inspiration  and  revelation.  They  furnish  the  key 
to  the  mission  of  John  the  Baptist,  as  the  forerunner  of 
the  Messiah,  as  foretold  in  Old  Testament  prophecy.  The 
supernatural  conception  and  the  virgin  birth  of  Christ 
stands  or  falls  with  these  inspired  annunciations,  them- 
selves confirmed  by  inspired  prophets  of  old.  The  very 
personality  of  Christ  as  God  and  man  in  two  distinct 
natures,  as  confirmed  and  attested  both  by  earlier  and 
later  Scriptures,  finds  its  origin  and  explanation  here. 

It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  those  who  minimize 
or  reject  the  supernatural  in  these  accounts  are  not  slow 
to  reject  the  divinity  of  Christ.  On  the  contrary,  a  hearty 
acceptance  of  his  divinity  makes  it  easy  to  accept  all  the 
supernatural  in  the  Scriptures,  for  it  all  centres  in  him. 

2.  Take  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  life  of  Christ — the 
divine  attestation  at  his  baptism  and  at  other  times  by  a 
voice  from  heaven;  his  numerous  and  varied  miracles  of 
healing  the  sick,  casting  out  devils,  and  raising  the  dead ; 
his  reading  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men;  the  miracles  of 
the  twelve  and  of  the  seventy;  his  prophecies  and  their 
fulfilment;  the  fulfilment  of  Old  Testament  types  and 
prophecies  in  him ;  the  wonders  and  portents  at  his  cruci- 
fixion; his  resurrection  on  the  third  day;  the  many  in- 
fallible proofs  for  forty  days ;  and  the  ascension  into 
heaven  on  Mount  Olivet.  We  need  hardly  say  that  the 
story  of  his  life  is  a  story  of  the  supernatural. 

Eighth.  Take  the  apostolic  period  and  administration. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  69 

It  begins  with  Pentecost,  and  practically  ends  with  the 
visions  of  John  on  Patmos.  The  power  of  working 
miracles  probably  remained  till  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  but  we  have  no  authentic  record  of  it  later  than 
the  close  of  the  canon.  The  apostolic  period  is  properly 
called  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  so  called  be- 
cause his  works  and  gifts  abounded  then  as  never  before 
and  never  since.  The  rapid  spread  of  the  gospel — three 
thousand  in  one  day  and  live  thousand  another  day — at- 
tests his  agency  and  activities  in  the  redemptive  processes. 
But  we  are  here  mainly  concerned  with  the  Charisims  of 
the  Spirit,  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  foretold  by  Joel, 
and  begun  at  Pentecost.  These  were  obvious  to  the 
senses  and  to  the  intelligence,  and  were  evidential  of  the 
claims  of  the  Gospel.  These  gifts  enabled  believers,  ir- 
respective of  official  position,  to  speak  with  tongues,  to 
prophecy,  to  discern  spirits,  to  heal  the  sick,  to  cast  out 
devils,  and  to  raise  the  dead.  These  gifts  sometimes  de- 
scended from  heaven,  and  were  sometimes  conferred  by 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  and  were  so  common  that  the 
early  church  was  virtually  an  inspired  and  miracle- 
working  church.  The  New  Testament  Scriptures  are 
the  logical  and  necessary  product  of  such  a  condition,  and 
in  their  entirety  they  are  a  supernatural  historical  and 
doctrinal  product. 

Ninth.  Conclusion.  It  would  be  easy  to  deduce  many 
valuable  corollaries  from  this  discussion,  such  as  the 
unities  of  Scripture,  the  unity  of  authorship,  unity  of 
aim,  plan  and  purpose,  unity  of  doctrine,  and  unity  of 
morals.  It  would  be  easy  to  show  that  the  Scriptures  are 
Christo-centrie  in  the  true  sense.  It  is  not  irreverent  to 
claim  that  the  Scriptures  are  the  biography  of  the  Tri-une 
God,  and  is  his  own  revelation  of  himself.  But  it  is 
not  within  the  scope  of  this  discussion  to  g*o  beyond  the 


70  The  Scriptures, 

purpose  announced  at  the  beginning,  to  trace  the  super- 
natural in  the  Scriptures,  and  to  show  that,  if  the  super- 
natural be  eliminated,  there  is  nothing  left.  We  have 
sought  to  show  this,  not  by  argument  and  exposition,  but 
by  a  simple  exhibit  of  the  actual  content  of  Scripture. 

We  may  be  mistaken  in  some  matter  of  detail  in 
classifying  it  as  natural  or  supernatural,  but  it  is  only 
one  in  a  thousand.  Of  the  rest,  there  can  be  no  mistake. 
The  supernatural  complexion,  trend,  and  content  are  so 
obvious  that  "He  that  runneth  may  read,  and  the  way- 
faring man,  though  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein." 

The  critic  may  argue  with  some  plausibility  that  the 
ravens  that  fed  Elijah  were  Arabs,  but  he  cannot  ex- 
plain away  his  supernatural  victory  over  the  priests  of 
Baal  on  Mount  Carmel.  A  boy  may  detach  a  loose  stone 
from  a  mountain  crag,  and  as  it  rolls  thundering  down 
to  the  valley,  he  may  imagine  that  he  is  tearing  down  the 
mountain,  but  the  mountain  remains.  Even  the  earth- 
quake settles  it  yet  more  securely  on  its  impregnable 
foundations.  So  is  the  impregnable  rock  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture against  all  its  enemies. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Creation  and  the  Creator. 

CREATION  is  a  doctrine  of  pure  revelation,  and  is 
held  as  a  matter  of  faith.  "In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  "(Gen.  i.  i.)  "Through 
faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the 
word  of  God,  so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not 
made  of  things  which  do  appear."   (Heb.  xi.  3.) 

Faith  is  not  belief  on  insufficient  evidence.  We  accept 
human  testimony  as  a  competent  ground  of  belief,  and  we 
accept  facts  so  authenticated  without  hesitation.  Pure 
revelation  is  Divine  testimony,  and  our  belief  in  it  is 
called  faith.  We  only  require  that  the  revelation  be  au- 
thenticated to  us  as  genuine  in  some  satisfactory  way. 
Then  everything  revealed  is  as  distinctly  a  fact  as  if  it 
were  gotten  from  competent  human  witnesses,  or  by 
actual  personal  observation  and  experience. 

The  Creator  is  a  Divine  person — not  a  mere  force  per- 
vading the  universe,  working  out  results  by  a  mere  nat- 
ural necessity.  He  is  a  person,  having  intelligence,  choice 
and  will,  as  well  as  power.  We  need  not  consider  here 
how  we  got  a  knowledge  of  God  as  an  actual  existence ; 
whether  from  some  intuitional  process ;  or  by  tradition ; 
or  by  arguments  and  proofs  drawn  from,  natural  religion. 
It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  existence  of  God  and  his 
revealed  presence  were  as  distinctly  realized  by  the  first 
generation  of  men  after  the  creation  as  was  their  own 
existence. 

This  is  the  fundamental  assumption  of  the  entire  Scrip- 


jz  The  Scriptures, 

tures,  with  no  need  of  categorical  statement.  All  ob- 
scuration of  his  existence  and  attributes  has  been  the 
direct  result  of  sin.  "The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart 
there  is  no  God."  (Psa.  xiv.  I.)  "Even  as  they  did  not 
like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  he  gave  them  over 
to  a  reprobate  mind,"  &c.  (Rom.  i.  28.)  "Who  changed 
the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  worshipped  the  creature 
more  than  the  Creator,"  (Rom.  i.  25.)  This  whole  mat- 
ter is  discussed  exhaustively  in  verses  18-32. 

When  we  say  that  God  was  the  Creator,  we  attribute 
creation,  in  a  proper  sense,  to  the  three  persons  of  the 
God-head ;  the  Father  originated,  the  Son  executed,  and 
the  Spirit  perfected.  Because  of  the  special  agency  of 
the  Son,  he  is  commonly  spoken  of  as  the  Creator.  In 
the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  throughout  the  Old 
Testament,  the  Lord,  Jehovah,  the  second  person  in  the 
Trinity,  is  declared  to  be  the  Creator.  The  same  is  taught 
in  the  New  Testament.  (John  i.  1-3;  Col.  i.  16,  17;  Rev. 
iv.  11 ;  and  elsewhere.) 

His  existence  and  his  attributes  may  be  learned  from 
his  works.  This  is  the  teleological  argument,  and  is  en- 
tirely legitimate.  Every  worker  and  every  artisan  leaves 
his  own  impress  and  imprint  on  his  work,  as  distinctly  as 
if  it  were  his  sign  manual.  Natural  theology  is  entitled 
to  a  place  of  dignity  as  a  science,  in  the  same  group  with 
revealed  and  systematic  theology.  In  fact,  Revelation,  or 
the  Scripture,  makes  an  authoritative  re-statement  of  the 
doctrines  of  natural  religion,  while  it  adds  what  natural 
religion  could  never  have  discovered. 

In  doing  this,  Revelation  makes  abundant  use  of  the 
teleological  argument  for  the  existence  and  attributes  of 
God,  and  especially  his  attributes.  "The  heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  sheweth  his  handy- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  73 

work,"  &c.   (Psa.  xix.   1-6.)     The  poet  has  rendered  it 
beautifully ; 

"The  spacious  firmament  on  high, 

And  all  the  blue  etherial  sky, 

And  spangled  heavens,  a  shining  frame, 

Their  great  original  proclaim. 

In  reason's  ear  they  all  rejoice, 

And  utter  forth  a  glorious  voice, 

Forever  singing  as  they  shine, 

The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine." 

Paul  says,  ''The  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by 
the  things  that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  God- 
head."    (Rom.  i.  20.     Compare  Acts  xiv.  17.) 

It  is  proper  to  distinguish  between  creation  and  provi- 
dence. Creation  is  a  direct  agency.  "He  said,  Let  there 
be  light,  and  there  was  light."  It  was  the  Divine  fiat. 
"He  spake  and  it  was  done,  he  commanded  and  it  stood 
fast;"  and  so,  numerously.  Providence  works  by  and 
through  second  causes ;  it  preserves  and  governs  his  crea- 
tures. "In  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being, 
and  by  him  all  things  consist."  He  upholdeth  all  things 
by  the  word  of  his  power."  "He  openeth  his  hand  and 
satisfieth  the  desire  of  every  living  thing."  And  so  on, 
numerously. 

Both  of  these  are  supernatural  activities — divine,  not 
creature  activities — and  they  must  not  be  confounded 
with  each  other.  Nor  must  they  be  confounded  with  the 
miracle,  which  is  a  special  manifestation  of  Divine  power 
for  a  revealed  purpose  at  the  time — a  prophet's  testi- 
monial. These  scriptural  distinctions  have  been  much 
more  fully  discussed  and  elucidated  in  other  connections. 
The  supernatural  is  both  the  logical  and  the  chronological 
condition  of  the  natural.     No  creator,  no  creature;  no 


74  The  Scriptures, 

supernatural,  no  natural ;  no  first  cause,  no  second  causes. 
Creation  originated  and  set  up  nature  and  nature's  laws. 
Every  reference  to  creation  in  the  Scriptures  seems  to  be 
based  on  this  assumption.  Any  philosophy  that  tries  to 
ignore  it  stultifies  itself. 

Two  words  in  the  original  Hebrew  are  used  in  the  ac- 
count of  creation  in  Genesis,  and  are  rendered  respec- 
tively by  the  English  words  "created*'  and  "made."  They 
are  used  interchangeably,  and  they  are  also  used  to  sup- 
plement each  other,  as  in  the  clause,  "Which  God  created 
and  made,"  (Gen.  ii.  3.)  By  comparing  i,  1,  16,  21,  25, 
26,  27,  31;  and  ii.  2,  3,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the 
words  "created"  and  "made"  are  used  interchangeably. 
This  disposes  of  all  attempts  to  distinguish  between  them 
as  different  processes,  or  even  different  stages  of  the  same 
process ;  nor  can  they  indicate  different  methods  in  the 
creative  act,  as  some  have  argued.  It  is  futile  to  assume 
clear-cut  differences  of  meaning  and  then  interpret  by 
them. 

The  Creator  is,  from  eternity,  the  self-existent  first 
cause  of  all  things  else.  The  orthodox  view  is  that  the 
blessed  Three-in-One  dwelt  in  an  eternal  fellowship  of 
love  and  bliss  supreme;  and  at  a  certain  point,  which  is 
called  the  beginning,  he  created  all  things  else  in  the  uni- 
verse, both  matter  and  spirit,  out  of  nothing;  or  perhaps 
he  may  have  repeated  the  creative  act,  as  seemed  to  him 
good,  from  time  to  time.  This  we  call  Absolute  Creation. 
By  it  matter  and  spirit  came  into  existence,  with  all  their 
properties  and  qualities.  Some  think  that  this  absolute 
creative  act  goes  forth  every  time  a  child  is  born  into  the 
world.    This  we  shall  not  now  discuss. 

There  is  another  creation,  which  we  call  Relative  Crea- 
tion, which  formed  and  fashioned  existing  materials  into 
new  and  higher  forms. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  75 

We  find  both  of  these  kinds  of  creation  ascribed  to  the 
Creator.  "Things  which  are  seen  were  made  of  things 
which  do  not  appear."  (Heb.  xi.  3.)  "All  things  were 
created  by  him,  and  for  him;  and  he  is  before  all  things, 
and  by  him  all  things  consist."  (Col.  i.  16,  17.)  "In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  If 
these  similar  passages  do  not  teach  absolute  creation,  we 
can  only  fall  back  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  eternity  of 
matter,  and  some  of  the  theories  of  creation  are  based 
upon  it. 

We  find  the  doctrine  of  relative  creation  in  the  first 
and  second  chapters  of  Genesis,  in  which  it  is  taught  that 
the  present  cosmos,  and  all  its  organisms,  both  plant  and 
animal,  are  made  of  the  materials  of  the  earth,  "the 
ground,"  "the  dust  of  the  ground,"  and  in  the  same  sense. 
(Compare  Gen.  i.  11,  12,  20,  21,  24,  25;  ii.  7,  9,  19,  and 
iii.  19.) 

In  this  relative  creation  of  Genesis,  chapters  i.  and  ii., 
the  method  was  direct,  and  not  through  second  causes. 
It  was,  however,  in  accordance  with  second  causes,  and 
nature's  laws  and  forces.  The  divine  fiat  went  forth  six 
times  in  the  six  days. 

The  various  recorded  steps  in  creation  are  logically 
coherent,  and  preparatory  for  man.  The  order  of  suc- 
cession could  hardly  have  been  changed' — light,  atmos- 
phere, dry  land  and  seas,  plant  life,  the  adjustment  of  the 
seasons,  swarming  life  in  the  waters,  the  fowls  of  the 
air,  the  beasts  of  the  field  and  every  creeping  thing,  and 
last  of  all  man. 

Man's  creation  was  unique  among  all  the  rest.  He 
alone  had  a  dual  nature,  spiritual  and  material.  The 
more  important  part,  the  spirit,  was  first  spoken  into  life 
in  the  "image  and  likeness"  of  God.  (Gen.  i.  26,  27.)  This 
was  absolute  creation,  with  no  hint  of  previously  existing 


y6  The  Scriptures, 

materials  out  of  which  to  fashion  the  spirit — or  rather, 
the  two  spirits,  the  male  and  the  female,  "Male  and  female 
created  he  them."  Distinctions  of  sex  are  not  accidental 
and  temporary  modifications  caused  by  the  body,  but 
they  belong  to  the  spirit,  and  the  body  of  each  was  ad- 
justed thereto.  To  the  man  was  given  a  body  just  suited 
to  his  spirit;  and  so  the  body  of  the  woman.  These 
same  bodies  shall  one  day  be  raised  and  glorified.  While 
they  shall  not  marry  nor  be  given  in  marriage  in  the  res- 
urrection, we  can  but  believe  that  mother  will  be  a  celes- 
tial woman  to  all  eternity,  and  father  will  be  a  glorified 
man  forever,  just  as  we  believe  that  the  Son  of  man 
will  be  the  glorified  man  Christ  Jesus  forever. 

The  Scriptures  evidently  teach  that  there  is  a  father's 
side  and  a  mother's  side  in  our  God,  and  man,  including 
the  man  and  the  woman — the  twain  in  one — filled  up  this 
image  and  likeness.  The  heathen  therefore  were  prompted 
by  a  felt  need  when  they  made  their  gods  male  and 
female. 

In  Genesis  ii.  7,  21-24,  we  find  a  supplementary  ac- 
count, how  God  made  bodies  with  animal  life  for  the 
man  and  the  woman,  who  were  created  in  his  image  and 
likeness.  "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground — (his  body  only) — and  breathed  into  his 
nostrils  the  breath  of  life ;  and  man  became  a  living  soul." 
The  sole  reference  here  is  to  the  animal  life  of  the  body, 
for  the  words  rendered  "living  soul"  are  used  of  every 
moving  creature  in  the  seas,  (Gen.  i.  20,)  and  of  every 
beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  every 
creeping  thing,  (Gen.  i.  30.)  This  is  not  so  evident  to 
the  English  reader,  because  the  word  rendered;  "living 
soul"  in  the  one  case  is  rendered  "life"  in  the  other  cases. 
But  in  neither  case  is  there  any  reference  to  a  spirit  or 
soul  which  was  made  in  the  image  of  God.    This  distinc- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  yy 

tion  is  important.  The  ibody  dies,  the  breath  departs  from 
the  nostrils,  the  animal  life  expires,  but  the  spirit  lives  on. 
The  Scriptures  tell  us  of  other  created  intelligences — 
angelic  hosts  of  heaven,  and  the  devil  and  his  angels.  We 
know  something  of  their  relation  to  the  material  uni- 
verse, their  modes  of  existence,  their  characters  and  oc- 
cupations, as  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Relations  of  the  Bible  and  Science. 

THE  Scriptures  are  God's  infallible  word,  both  in 
direct  statement,  obvious  implication,  and  neces- 
sary inference.  This  is  the  fundamental  assumption  of 
these  entire  discussions.  The  whole  is  both  human  and 
divine  in  its  origin  and  authorship.  It  is  a  book  of  as- 
certained facts  and  verified  principles.  Every  doctrine  is 
a  complex  fact,  and  every  principle  has  the  force  of  an 
axiom,  because  it  is  divinely  authenticated.  "Thus  saith 
the  Lord,"  is  the  end  of  controversy.  The  doctrine  of 
plenary  inspiration  justifies  all  this. 

Science  is  knowledge  ascertained  and  systematized  by 
man.  The  knowledge  is  gathered  from  every  possible 
source,  by  every  legitimate  method,  and  must  be  verified 
in  every  possible  way,  and  is  properly  called  experience. 
It  may  be  gotten  by  observation,  experiment,  and  com- 
petent testimony;  and  its  principles  must  be  gotten  by 
sound  induction,  and  safe  deduction  from  ascertained 
principles.  All  of  this  is  legitimate,  and  even  neces- 
sary, to  satisfy  the  human  mind.  When  we  go  beyond 
the  classification  of  facts  into  the  realm  of  relations  and 
causes,  we  enter  the  realms  of  speculative  science,  in 
which  hypothesis  plays  an  important  part,  and  a  part 
entirely  legitimate  in  the  further  pursuit  of  knowledge. 

When  a  science  confirms  truth  gotten  from  othec 
sources,  we  say  that  one  verifies  the  other,  and  we  hail  it 
accordingly.  When  a  science  contradicts  truths  sup- 
posed to  be  gotten  from  other  sources,  it  is  necessary  to 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  79 

call  a  halt,  and  to  investigate  and  verify  the  one  or  the 
other;  for  truth  has  no  contradictions,  though  it  is  often 
necessary  to  explain  contraries  and  apparent  contra- 
dictions. 

At  best,  however,  all  science  is  made  by  man,  and  is 
therefore,  fallible.  There  are  first  principles,  or  axioms, 
which  are  necessary  truths,  but  all  else  is  fallible.  Ob- 
servation, experiment,  testimony,  and  speculation  have  in 
them  a  large  element  of  fallibility,  as  may  be  abundantly 
shown  in  the  history  of  science. 

A  particular  science  embraces  only  a  limited  depart- 
ment, and  the  sub-divisions,  following  natural  lines  of 
cleavage,  may  be  very  numerous.  The  tendency  now  is 
to  multiply  these  sub-divisions  as  the  content  of  human 
knowledge  increases.  Every  specialist  is  the  representa- 
tive of  a  particular  science. 

We  may  fairly  conclude  that  the  infallible  Scriptures 
have  the  right  of  way  against  all  comers,  or,  to  change 
the  figure,  they  sit  enthroned,  and  demand  the  obeisance 
of  all  the  sciences. 

True  science  is  based  on  accurate  observation  and 
a  real  experience,  and  must  embrace  all  possible  data. 
Sciences  are  constantly  revised,  and  frequently  recon- 
structed, because  of  the  discovery  of  new  data,  or  a 
better  reading  of  the  old,  or  a  better  understanding  of  a 
real  experience.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  every 
fact,  no  matter  how  insignificant,  has  its  place  in  the 
great  universe  of  cause  and  effect;  and  it  may  have,  and 
often  does  have,  the  highest  scientific  value.  Failure  to 
gather  up  and  use  all  necessary  and  possible  data  gives  us 
a  science  incomplete  and  presumptively  false. 

It  is  well  here  to  emphasize  the  fact,  that  all  truth  is 
a  unit,  and  is  in  a  proper  sense  God's  truth,  whether  ex- 
pressed in  nature  or  revelation.     Truth  must  present  es- 


80  The  Scriptures, 

sential  harmony  at  all  overlapping  points.  All  facts  have 
their  exact  place  in  the  universe  of  God— they  do  not,  and 
cannot,  contradict  each  other.  Contraries  and  apparent 
contradictions  may  be  solved  by  a  more  accurate  experi- 
ence, or  by  a  wider  generalization.  The  tendency  of 
sciences  to-day  is  to  unify  causes  and  forces.  The  har- 
monious interaction  of  forces  and  causes,  and  the  so- 
called  conservation  of  force,  have  doubtless  been  pressed 
too  far  when  it  is  inferred  that  all  physical  forces  may  be 
unified  into  one.  But  they  do  teach  that  the  great  First 
Cause  does  work  all  his  holy  will  in  harmonious  unity, 
whether  in  the  spiritual  or  the  physical  realm.  All  the 
sciences  are,  therefore,  correlated  to  each  other.  This 
might  be  easily  illustrated,  were  it  necessary  to  the 
trend  of  our  discussion. 

The  Scriptures  do  not  teach  science,  or  formulated  sys- 
tems of  facts,  but  they  are  full  of  facts  in  every  depart- 
ment of  knowledge.  Every  statement  is  accurate  and 
divinely  authenticated,  and  every  principle  is  infallibly 
attested.  Moses,  Samuel,  Daniel  and  Paul  were  trust- 
worthy witnesses.  The  Holy  Spirit,  who  spake  through 
them,  could  make  no  mistake  in  matters  of  observation 
and  experience.  Were  Humboldt,  Newton  and  Huxley 
observers  worthy  of  credence?  They,  more.  Scripture 
data,  therefore,  must  not  'be  ignored. 

Many  sciences  are  incomplete,  inadequate,  and  pre- 
sumptively or  certainly  false,  because  they  ignore  Bible 
data — the  simplest  and  most  obvious  data.  Ethics,  psy- 
chology, sociology,  philology,  ethnology,  etc.,  are  incom- 
plete and  false  without  Bible  data,  as  may  be  easily  seen. 

There  have  been  many  false  systems  of  ethics  which 
fail  to  make  the  fall  of  man  in  Eden,  or  the  doctrines  of 
human  freedom  and  accountability,  or  the  determining 
power  of  motive  and  disposition,  essential  parts  of  the 
science. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  8i 

Psychology  must  start  with  the  Bible  facts  of  mind 
and  matter.  Failing  of  this,  we  have,  on  one  hand,  psy- 
chology without  a  mind,  and  on  the  other,  a  physical  uni- 
verse without  matter.  We  find  all  shades  of  doctrine  in 
uncertain  equilibrium  between  materialism  and  idealism, 
and  then  on  to  absolute  nihilism.  Such  philosophies 
would  be  wiser  to  accept  and  start  with  what  "is  written." 

Sociology  must  needs  be  a  system  of  rottenness,  if  it 
fails  to  start  with  the  God-given  constitution  of  the 
family,  as  found  in  the  Scriptures.  And  the  deadly  virus 
of  a  vicious  sociology  inoculates  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  their  relations  to  society,  church  and  state,  be- 
cause the  family  is  the  true  basis  of  them  all. 

Or,  take  philology — the  science  of  language,  its  forma- 
tion, growth  and  modification.  It  usually  ignores  the 
confusion  of  tongues  at  Babel,  and  in  its  self-sufficiency 
declares  the  story  a  "myth  which  no  well-informed 
scholar  accepts." 

Or  take  ethnology.  How  few  in  modern  times  have 
made  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis  the  starting  point  of 
ethnological  science,  and  how  many  have  denied  that  God 
"hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell 
on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  (Acts  xvii.  26.) 

It  is  not  amiss  to  say  that  much  of  the  skepticism  about 
the  truth  of  .Scripture  statements  originates  just  here.  A 
partial  and  incomplete  science  which  has  ignored  Bible 
data  presumes  to  challenge  the  truth  of  those  data  be- 
cause they  contradict  their  teachings.  Then,  on  the  other 
side,  a  timid  and  cringing  faith  seeks  to  explain  those 
data  in  conformity  with  such  science.  Then,  before  their 
work  is  fairly  completed  and  accepted,  a  modified  and 
changing  science  requires  all  the  work  to  be  done  again. 
An  evolutionary  philosophy,  playing  the  part  of  a  critic, 
finds  it  necessary  to  deny  the  historicity  of  large  paits 


82  The  Scriptures, 

of  the  Scriptures,  and  limits  their  inspiration  to  what  they 
are  pleased  to  call  their  spiritual  lessons,  because  the 
whole  trend  of  Scripture  contradicts  their  "science, 
falsely  so-called." 

The  Scriptures  are  to  be  interpreted  according  to  the 
laws  of  language  solely.  Language  has  its  laws,  which 
are  as  fixed  and  as  imperious  as  the  law  of  gravitation, 
or  as  any  other  of  nature's  laws.  The  Scriptures  abound 
in  all  possible  forms  of  expression,  such  as  are  found  in 
all  literature — the  literal  and  the  figurative;  fable,  alle- 
gory, and  parable ;  history  and  fiction,  reality  and  vision ; 
proverb  and  category,  and  so  on.  But  each  of  these  is  to 
be  determined  and  interpreted  according  to  the  laws  of 
language,  and  may  not  be  determined  by  an  outside  dic- 
tation or  by  foregone  conclusions. 

It  is  true,  however,  that  interpreters  of  language  often 
make  mistakes  in  ascertaining  its  real  meaning,  be  they 
ever  so  careful.  The  enunciation  of  general  principles  is 
more  difficult  to  interpret  than  a  statement  of  facts.  His- 
torical statements  are  easier  than  complex  doctrinal  dis- 
cussions. Any  outside  authority  may  suggest  a  mistaken 
exegesis,  by  reason  of  some  sidelight  or  supposed  con- 
tradiction by  facts  obtained  from  other  sources ;  but  the 
mistake  must  be  verified  by  a  re-examination  according 
to  the  laws  of  language. 

Therefore,  it  is  clear  that  science,  either  by  its  observa- 
tions or  conclusions,  may  suggest  that  the  Scripture  has 
been  misread  or  misinterpreted,  but  no  amount  of  scien- 
tific proofs  and  demonstrations  can  correct  the  Scripture, 
or  the  exegesis  of  it.  The  only  allowable  correction  must 
be  made  according  to  the  laws  of  language,  and  by  a 
proper  application  of  those  laws.  On  the  other  hand, 
sound  exegesis  may  convict  science  of  misreading  and 
misinterpreting  nature.  The  Bible  is  the  infallible  word 
of  God ;  science  is  the  fallible  word  of  man. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  83 

It  is  claimed,  however,  that  nature  and  Scripture  are 
both  God's  work,  and  are  equally  expressions  of  his  truth 
when  rightly  understood,  and  are,  therefore,  co-ordinate 
in  authority  and  mutually  corrective.  This  claim  is  appar- 
ently made  in  the  interest  of  the  confessed  unity  of  all 
truth.  But  not  so.  It  is  made  in  the  interest  of  man- 
made  science,  and  seeks  to  exalt  it  to  the  same  position  of 
authority  as  the  impregnable  rock  of  Sacred  Scripture. 
It  seeks  more;  it  seeks  to  dominate  the  Scripture  and  to 
interpret  it,  and  to  determine  the  amount  of  credence  that 
shall  be  given  it. 

"The  Book  of  Nature"  is  not  a  book,  except  by  a  figure 
of  speech,  and  is  in  no  sense  co-ordinate  with  the  book 
of  revelation.  If  God  were  the  author  of  a  book  of  uni- 
versal science,  in  the  same  sense  in  which  he  is  the  author 
of  the  book  of  revelation,  it  would  be  a  part  of  the  im- 
pregnable rock  of  Sacred  Scripture,  and  each  would  mu- 
tually interpret  the  other,  just  as  we  now  compare  Scrip- 
ture with  Scripture  in  order  to  ascertain  the  exact  teach- 
ing of  the  whole. 

But  man-made  books  of  science  have  no  higher  claim 
than  the  wisdom  and  skill  and  insight  of  their  writers. 
How,  then,  can  it  be  claimed  that  science  and  Scripture 
are  mutually  corrective? 

Faith,  therefore,  remands  all  the  contradictions  of  a 
pretentious  and  sometimes  an  agnostic  science,  with  in- 
structions to  revise  and  introduce  Bible  data  as  of  para- 
mount authority. 

In  closing,  we  enter  this  caveat.  The  condemnation 
implied  in  this  discussion  belongs  only  to  "science,  falsely 
so-called,"  and  not  to  all  science.  All  the  sciences,  phy- 
sical and  moral,  have  been  and  still  are,  most  largely  in- 
debted to  devout  men  and  men  of  faith,  who  have  re- 
ceived the  Scriptures  in  meekness  and  reverence,  and 
have  humbly  sought  the  glory  of  God  in  all  their  work. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Evolution — What  Is  It? 

THE  hypothesis  of  evolution  attempts,  to  account 
for  organic  nature  as  the  resultant  of  mere  natural 
laws.  It  either  denies  or  minimizes  the  supernatural  as 
a  necessary  agency  in  the  physical  universe,  from  its  be- 
ginnings to  its  present  complex  condition  of  varied  organ- 
isms animate  and  inanimate.  An  evolutionary  philosophy 
also  seeks  to  make  all  intelligence,  morals,  religion  and 
all  human  institutions,  the  resultant  of  naturalistic  pro- 
cesses and  forces. 

The  habitat  of  this  hypothesis  is  so-called  cosmic  evolu- 
tion, in  which  the  appearance  of  living  organisms  from 
time  to  time  is  a  mere  incident  in  the  unfolding  of  nature 
towards  it  final  consummation. 

It  claims  all  growth  development  as  an  essential  part 
of  evolutionary  processes,  and  then  cites  growth  develop- 
ment as  a  proof  of  the  hypothesis  of  evolution.  This 
would  seem  to  be  reasoning  in  a  circle. 

Growth  development,  however,  has  always  been  noted 
as  a  natural  process,  before  ever  the  hypothesis  of  evolu- 
tion was  invented,  and  must  not  be  confounded  with  it. 
The  seed  becomes  a  tree,  the  egg  becomes  an  eagle ;  but 
the  seed  and  the  egg  have  in  them  a  principle  of  life 
which  is  unfolded  and  developed  according  to  nature's 
laws.  Growth  development  originates  no  life  and  con- 
trols and  directs  no  forces,  but  is  itself  controlled  by 
them.  So-'called  cosmic  evolution,  as  set  forth  in  La 
Place's  theory  of  the  heavens,  and  the  growth  of  strata 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  85 

on  the  earth,  as  set  forth  in  geology,  are  to  be  classed  as 
growth  development  rather  than  evolution,  and  ought 
not  to  be  confounded  with  it. 

Evolution  seeks  for  the  origin  of  the  things  which  are 
afterwards  developed  by  actual  growth.  It  seeks  the 
origin  of  life  in  its  many  types ;  and  of  species  as  found 
at  various  stages  of  the  earth's  history.  It  seeks  to  con- 
nect the  higher  and  lower  forms  of  living  organisms  by 
some  common  origin,  partly  or  wholly. 

We  must  also  distinguish  evolution  from  variation 
within  the  limits  of  species.  The  varieties  and  modifica- 
tions of  the  dog  and  the  horse  are  very  numerous,  and  so 
of  many  other  animals.  These  varieties  are  even  more 
evident  in  plant  life,  as  seen  by  botanists.  Cattle  breeders 
and  horticulturists  are  constantly  seeking  new  and  im- 
proved varieties  inside  the  limits  of  species.  Evolution- 
ists claim  these  variations  as  cases  of  evolution,  and  then 
cite  them  in  proof  of  the  theory.  This  again  is  reasoning 
in  a  circle. 

Evolution  seeks  to  unify  all  species  in  a  common  origin 
as  the  resultant  of  some  law  of  nature,  with  a  minimum 
of  direct  creative  power,  if  there  be  any  at  all.  Certain 
analogies,  likenesses,  identities,  and  unities  do  indeed 
indicate  a  community  of  origin.  Orthodoxy  says  they 
had  a  common  creator.  Evolution  finds  it  in  some  natural 
law,  even  though  they  may  not  be  able  to  define  it ;  there- 
fore they  speak  of  some  unknown  law,  unknown  because 
no  one  has  witnessed  its  operation,  nor  found  any  proof 
of  it. 

Evolution  assumes  that  every  physical  change  had  a 
physical  origin,  according  to  some  physical  law;  they 
see  that  the  unities  indicate  a  community  of  origin,  and 
conclude  that  some  unknown  law  was  in  operation  to  pro- 
duce different  species.     This  simply  'begs  the  question. 


86  The  Scriptures, 

There  are  two  schools  of  evolution :  The  materialistic 
and  the  theistic.  The  former  is  sometimes  called  the 
atheistic  school,  because,  if  we  concede  the  eternity  of 
pristine  matter,  there  is  no  place  for  a  God  in  their  sys- 
tem. Still,  the  adherents  of  this  school  are  not  specula- 
tive atheists.  We  do  not,  therefore,  press  the  name  of 
atheistic  evolution ;  and  besides,  it  is  an  odious  name. 

Materialistic  evolution  originates  life  from  dead  matter 
by  some  unknown  law.  It  teaches  that  vital  force  is  a 
property  of  original  matter,  as  real  as  the  physical  and 
chemical  forces  with  which  we  are  familiar ;  and  that  this 
vital  force  manifests  itself  whenever  certain  combinations 
of  matter  take  place ;  in  short,  that  life  is  the  result  of  a 
naturally  formed  organism,  without  any  supernatural 
agency.  It  holds  that  the  lowest  possible  form  of  cell 
life,  which  they  call  protoplasm  was  the  source  of  all  suc- 
ceeding life  on  the  earth. 

This  school,  then,  evolves  all  genera  and  species,  in- 
cluding man,  by  purely  natural  processes.  By  a  study  of 
the  fauna  and  flora  of  all  the  geological  periods,  from 
the  lowest  forms  of  infusorial  life,  along  direct  and  col- 
lateral lines  of  descent  till  we  reach  man  and  the  multi- 
tudinous divergent  types  of  the  present  day,  they  find 
chains  of  succession  and  improvement,  with  important 
links  missing  here  and  there.  They  assure  us  that  these 
missing  links  do  exist,  and  must  be  assumed  as  logically 
necessary,  and  will  doubtless  be  found  some  day. 

Under  this  scheme,  man  is  absolutely  material,  and  his 
life,  reason,  intelligence,  and  his  moral  nature,  are  only 
higher  forms  of  the  animal  instincts  of  the  lower  animai 
creation,  and  are  the  resultant  of  material  organization 
only. 

They  do  not  teach  that  the  man  is  descended  from  the 
monkey,  as  some  suppose,  but  that  the  man,  the  monkey, 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  87 

the  ape,  and  the  gorilla  are  descended  in  collateral  lines, 
from  a  missing  link  which  they  call  the  anthropoid  ape. 
So  also,  the  oyster  and  the  clam,  in  all  their  varieties,  are 
all  descended  from  seme  common  extinct  ancestor;  and 
that  the  oyster  and  the  man,  though  now  so  widely  diver- 
gent, are  the  natural  progeny  of  some  ancestor  far  back- 
in  the  ages,  and  near  to  the  original  protoplasm,  the  com- 
mon parent  of  all  living  organisms. 

They  teach  that  all  this  has  been  accomplished  by  ages 
of  infinite  variations  and  differentiations,  until  types  and 
species  became  fixed,  as  we  see  them  to-day.  This  was 
done  under  the  operation  of  two  laws,  which  they  call 
"natural  selection"  and  "survival  of  the  fittest." 

It  is  difficult  to  define  these  laws  without  giving  to 
nature  intelligent  choice,  and  assuming  that  nature  in 
some  way  either  adjusted  the  organism  to  the  environ- 
ment, or  adjusted  the  environment  to  the  organism.  With- 
out such  adjustment,  no  organism  could  live  a  single  day 
after  its  birth,  much  less  could  it  make  the  survival 
and  prove  itself  the  fittest. 

This  form  of  evolution  coheres  with  the  atomic  theory 
of  Democritus,  and  with  the  ontology  of  Epicurus,  and 
some  boast  of  this  fact.  They  held  to  the  eternity  of 
matter,  with  scant  properties  and  qualities  in  its  original 
condition,  with  a  tendency  to  aggregation,  and  that  its 
subsequent  properties  and  qualities,  as  manifested  in  or- 
ganisms, animate  and  inanimate,  are  the  natural  result  of 
that  tendency  to  aggregation.  This  is  bald  materialism 
also. 

Materialistic  evolution  makes  miracles  an  impossible 
product  of  natural  law;  it  makes  inspiration  the  product 
of  a  materialistic  instinct;  it  degrades  the  Scriptures  to 
the  level  of  the  vilest  product  of  a  beastly  materialism, 
which  is  every  whit  as  respectable  as  their  materialistic 


88  The  Scriptures, 

philosophy.  This  is  practical  atheism,  and  we  need 
pursue  it  no  further. 

Theistic  evolution  ascribes  the  origin  of  matter,  with 
all  its  properties,  to  absolute  creation,  just  as  the  Scrip- 
tures do.  They  hold  that  all  natural  forces  and  causes 
are  of  supernatural  origin,  and  that  nature's  laws  worked 
out  all  the  stages  indicated  by  astronomical  and  geological 
sciences,  without  any  direct  interposition  of  divine  power 
and  agency.     They  call  this  God's  method  of  creation. 

They  claim  that  it  is  the  highest  possible  tribute  to 
creative  wisdom  and  power  to  suppose  that  he  created 
matter  with  such  natural  powers  and  forces  that  it 
wrought  out  the  whole  material  and  physical  universe 
under  the  operation  of  so-called  natural  law,  without  the 
necessity  of  divine  intervention. 

They  apply  this  principle  to  every  fact  of  the  earth's 
history  except  the  introduction  of  life.  They  deny  the 
power  of  dead  matter  to  originate  life,  or  that  life  is  in 
any  sense  a  property  or  quality  of  matter.  Materialistic 
evolution  has  made  every  effort  to  prove  the  doctrine  of 
spontaneous  generation  under  favorable  conditions,  and 
some  are  now  engaged  in  producing  imitations  of  life 
and  its  cellular  motions  in  the  laboratory.  But  theistic 
evolution  denies  the  possibility  of  life  except  by  divine 
agency. 

They  ascribe  the  origin  of  life,  and  the  creation  of  a 
few  primordial  forms,  to  the  direct  intervention  of  crea- 
tive power,  and  we  call  it  relative  creation ;  i.  e.,  the  creat- 
ing or  making  of  new  and  higher  forms  out  of  existing 
materials. 

Starting  with  primordial  forms  or  types,  they  account 
for  all  subsequent  life  by  evolution  from  these  by  a  nat- 
ural descent,  adopting  the  nomenclature  and  the  exact 
theory  of  the  materialistic  evolutionist.     Of  course,  there 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  89 

are  divergences  of  opinion ;  some  think  that  new  types 
were  introduced  from  time  to  time  by  direct  creative  act. 
Others  think  that  evolution  sometimes  proceeded  per 
sallum,  or  by  a  sudden  leap  to  a  higher  type,  instead  of 
by  the  usual  infinitesimal  differentiations. 

The  divergences  are  wider  when  they  come  to  man. 
Some  think  he  was  born  of  brute  parents,  but  per  saltum — 
a  leap  from  a  brute  beast  mother  to  a  low  but  real  hu- 
manity. Some  think  that  there  was  a  direct  divine  agency 
put  forth  to  make  the  transition.  Some,  again,  claim 
that  a  direct  creative  act  was  necessary  for  man's  body — 
that  the  gap  is  too  wide  to  be  covered  by  any  possible 
form  of  natural  generation.  Some  hold  that  all  the  lower 
forms  of  life,  up  to  man,  emerged  by  evolutionary 
processes. 

Probably  all  theistic  evolutionists  believe  that  the  soul 
of  man,  that  which  differentiates  him  from  the  lower  ani- 
mals, was  a  direct  creation  in  the  image  of  God.  Here 
they  part  company  entirely  with  the  materialist — deny 
absolutely  that  the  soul  is  a  naturalistic  product. 

They  contend,  further,  that  their  views  are  not  only 
allowed  by  a  proper  exegesis  of  Scripture,  but  also  ac- 
tually taught  by  Moses  as  to  the  method  of  creation. 

Is  this  claim  just? 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Evolution — Is  It  Scriptural? 

THEISTIC  evolution,  as  has  been  shown,  ascribes 
life  to  a  direct  creative  energy.  It  ascribes  a  few 
primordial  forms  to  relative  creation,  and  then  claims  that 
all  subsequent  forms  and  species  grew  out  of  these  by 
spontaneous  variation,  natural  selection,  struggles  for  ex- 
istence, survival  of  the  fittest,  and  mutation,  without  the 
interference  of  direct  creative  power.  Some  think  that 
creative  energy  went  forth  from  time  to  time  to  introduce 
new  types.  There  is  division  of  sentiment  as  to  man. 
All  of  this  has  already  been  noted.  They  find  it  easy  to 
invoke  a  direct  creative  energy  whenever  and  wherever 
it  seems  to  them  necessary,  having  once  conceded  its 
necessary  presence  at  any  stage.  They  do  not,  as  a  rule, 
exclude  God's  providential  direction  and  control  in  na- 
ture's processes  all  the  way  through ;  but  they  consider  it 
just  as  necessary  then  as  now.  They  call  this  historic 
evolution,  sometimes  by  direct  creative  energy,  and  after- 
wards by  continuous  providential  control  of  nature's 
forces — "God's  method  of  creation." 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  this  theory  is  not  pure  evolution. 
So  much  of  it  as  concedes  the  direct  exercise  of  creative 
power  is  in  no  sense  evolutionary ;  and  so  much  of  it  as  is 
mere  historic  growth  and  development  is  not  properly 
called  evolution. 

The  transmutation  of  species,  or  strict  biological  evo- 
lution, is  the  only  evolution  proper  in  their  system,  though 
it  gives  name  for  the  whole.    It  is  claimed  that  this  trans- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  91 

mutation  has  taken  place  according  to  unknown  and  un- 
verified laws.  There  is  no  objection  to  so  much  of  their 
system  as  concedes  the  existence  of  God,  his  creation  of 
matter,  his  direct  power,  introducing  life,  and  creating 
primordial  forms  and  types,  his  providential  government 
ever  all,  and  his  direct  creation  of  man,  in  part,  at  least. 

Theistic  evolution  is  unscientific,  because  it  is  unproven. 
It  relies  on  the  analogies  and  identities  of  form,  purpose, 
and  use  in  different  species  to  prove  the  same  birth  origin, 
instead  of  the  same  creative  origin.  Besides,  similarity 
and  identity  of  environment  would  seem  to  prove  that 
these  observed  analogies  and  identities  have  been  neces- 
sary to  the  very  existence  of  variant  species  on  any  theory 
of  their  origin  and  existence. 

Then,  again,  it  is  unscientific  to  assume  the  existence 
of  facts  essential  to  a  hypothesis,  and  then  from  that 
hypothesis  to  argue  the  necessary  existence  of  these  hypo- 
thetical facts.  Not  a  single  case  of  transmutation  has 
been  discovered  in  the  countless  species  of  the  present 
cosmos.  Not  a  single  fact  has  been  found  to  connect 
these  with  the  equally  numerous  species  of  a  previous 
geological  age,  nor  any  fact  to  show  that  species  then 
were  not  equally  separate  and  fixed  as  in  our  day.  Nor 
have  any  facts  been  found  to  connect  the  fixed  species  of 
any  one  geologic  period  with  those  of  another.  The  com- 
parative anatomist  is  at  no  loss  to  classify  a  fossil  of  any 
age  or  period  as  belonging  to  a  fixed  species.  The  miss- 
ing links  must  needs  be  very  numerous,  but  their  exist- 
ence is  mere  guess-work ;  no  sound  induction  can  be  based 
upon  their  hypothetical  existence. 

The  hypothesis  of  transmutation  of  species  rests  upon 
other  unproven  hypothesis — for  example,  the  existence  of 
the  unverified  laws  of  natural  selection  and  survival  of  the 
fittest;  a  proper  environment  and  proper  conditions  for  the 


92  The  Scriptures, 

operation  of  these  laws ;  a  sufficient  length  of  time  for 
the  necessary  spontaneous  variations  and  their  final  es- 
tablishment into  fixity  of  species,  and  others.  Now,  if 
each  one  of  these  basic  hypotheses  has  a  certain  ratio  of 
probability,  expressed  in  mathematical  terms,  we  may 
combine  these  probabilities,  just  as  we  calculate  the  doc- 
trine of  chances,  and  the  resultant  probability  of  the  truth 
of  them  all  amounts  to  a  practical  impossibility.  It  would 
be  like  balancing  a  truncated  pyramid  on  its  apex  or 
smaller  base,  and  another  on  it,  and  still  another,  and 
another,  and  the  whole  is  a  toppling  mass  of  unstable 
equilibrium.  In  fact,  the  whole  theory  of  evolution,  con- 
sidered as  a  scientific  structure,  is  now  confessedly  in  a 
state  of  ruinous  collapse. 

If  evolution  could  be  scientifically  proven  for  plants 
and  animals  throughout  the  geologic  ages  prior  to  the 
ice  age,  after  which  man  was  introduced  on  the  earth,  it 
is  certainly  not  true  of  man  and  the  present  cosmos.  All 
the  species  of  the  world  that  now  exist  are  fixed.  There 
is  no  movement  to  higher  types ;  and  every  pre-historic 
bone  or  fossil  yet  discovered  is  easily  located  in  its  own 
fixed  species. 

Evolution  is  unscriptural  in  every  respect.  It  contra- 
dicts the  common-sense  exegesis  of  the  first  and  second 
chapters  of  Genesis.  The  attempt  to  reconcile  has  been 
made  in  the  interest  of  evolution,  partly  because  it  was 
supposed  to  be  true,  and  partly  to  verify  its  truth.  Others 
again,  have  tried  to  explain  Genesis  in  such  a  way  as  to 
leave  the  right  of  way  to  evolution,  and  they  say  that  the 
Scriptures  are  in  no  way  interested  in  the  truth  or  falsity 
of  the  doctrine. 

It  confounds  creation  and  providence.  Creation  is  thq 
divine  fiat,  setting  up  nature  and  its  laws,  and  fashioning 
new  organisms.     To  this  the  theistic  evolutionist  agrees. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  93 

Providence  works  through  second  causes,  controlling  and 
directing  nature's  activities  by  and  through  its  laws.  This 
is  certainly  included  in  his  definition  of  evolution  as 
"God's  method  of  creation."  By  the  same  argument, 
providence  to-day  might  be  called  creation,  and  it  ought 
to  be  so  if  natural  processes  are  creative  processes. 
"Mediate  creation,"  or  creation  by  natural  processes,  is  a 
contradiction  in  terms.  Creation  'brings  into  existence  by 
a  direct  and  immediate  exercise  of  divine  power;  provi- 
dence upholds,  directs,  and  governs.  This  distinction  is 
Scriptural  throughout,  as  we  have  seen  in  another  dis- 
cussion. It  also  confounds  creation  and  natural  genera- 
tion. It  cannot  be  claimed  that  God's  relations  to  the 
creation  of  Adam  and  Eve  were  the  same  as  his  relation 
to  the  birth  of  their  first-born  son.  One  was  creation, 
the  other  was  natural  generation.  (Compare  Gen.  i.  21, 
22,  27,  28;  v.  1-3.) 

Plants,  animals,  and  man  were  formed  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground  in  the  same  sense,  for  the  terms  used  are  the 
same,  or  at  least  equivalent,  for  all — for  plants,  for  ani- 
mals, and  for  man : 

For  plants:  "Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  etc.," 
"And  the  earth  brought  forth  grass,"  etc.  (Gen.  i.  11, 
12.)  "And  out  of  the  ground  God  made  to  grow  every 
tree,"  etc.,  (Gen.  ii.  9.)  This  was  not  spontaneous  gen- 
eration and  spontaneous  variation,  for  "He  made  every 
plant  of  the  field  before  it  was  in  the  earth,  and  every 
herb  of  the  field  before  it  grew."  (Gen.  ii.  5.) 

For  animals :  "And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth 
the  living  creature  after  his  kind,  cattle  and  creeping 
thing,  and  beast  of  the  earth  after  his  kind."  (Gen.  i. 
24.)  "And  out  of  the  ground  the  Lord  God  formed 
every  beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air," 
(Gen.  ii.  19.) 


94  The  Scriptures, 

For  man :  "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground."  (Gen.  ii.  7.)  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground ; 
for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken :  for  dust  thou  art,  and  unto 
dust  shalt  thou  return."  (Gen  iii.  19.)  Solomon,  in 
speaking  of  men  and  beasts,  says,  "All  go  unto  one  place ; 
all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to  dust  again."  (Eel. 
iii.  20.) 

Now,  if  the  plant  was  made  before  it  was  in  the  ground, 
and  every  herb  before  it  grew,  it  certainly  was  not  by 
natural  generation,  nor  by  spontaneous  variation.  How, 
then,  were  animals  and  man,  which  were  made  of  the 
ground  in  the  same  sense,  the  result  of  these  causes  ? 

Each  species  was  complete  of  its  kind  and  self-propa- 
gating. "The  herb  yielding  seed  and  the  fruit  tree  yield- 
ing fruit,  whose  seed  was  in  itself,  after  his  kind."  (Gen. 
i.  11,  12.)  The  same  was  true  of  birds  and  marine  forms 
of  life.  "And  God  blessed  them,  saying,  be  fruitful  and 
multiply,  and  fill  the  waters  in  the  seas,  and  let  fowl  mul- 
tiply on  the  earth."  (Gen.  i.  22.)  And  so  with  land  ani- 
mals, "Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  living  creature,  after 
his  kind,  beast,  cattle,  and  creeping  thing  after  his  kind." 
(Gen.  i.  24,  25.)  So  also  was  man  to  multiply,  and  no 
one  questions  the  fixity  of  his  species.  The  plant,  the 
herb,  the  tree,  the  fish,  the  fowl,  beasts,  cattle,  creeping 
things,  and  man  were  first  created,  and  then  came  the 
seed  and  self-propagation  by  natural  generation.  It  is 
plain,  therefore,  that  every  species  was  fixed  by  the  crea- 
tive act,  and  that  natural  generation  was  not  a  stage  of 
the  creative  act.     (Compare  Gen.  ii.  9;  ii.  5 ;  v.  3.) 

Other  Scriptures  confirm  this  exegesis,  either  directly 
or  by  implication.  The  beasts  and  the  fowls  went  into 
the  ark,  male  and  female,  according  to  their  kind,  "to 
keep  seed  alive  on  the  earth."     (Gen.  vii.  2,  3.)     The  ox 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  95 

and  the  ass  and  the  cattle  of  the  fourth  and  tenth  com- 
mandments imply  the  same  fixity.  In  fact,  the  naming 
implied  fixity  of  species  as  they  came  from  the  Creator's 
hand. 

This  exegesis  which  has  been  made  of  the  narrative  of 
creation  as  given  by  Moses  is  the  simple,  common-sense 
interpretation ;  it  lies  on  the  very  surface,  and  seems  to 
be  the  basis  and  starting  point  of  revelation.  If  we  sur- 
render its  simple  historicity  in  the  interests  of  such 
science,  it  proves  easy  and  natural  to  surrender  the  his- 
tory and  the  teaching  of  the  next  few  chapters  in  the  in- 
terest of  any  and  every  false  philosophy,  and  so  on 
through  the  entire  Scriptures,  till  nothing  is  left  but  that 
which  rationalistic  conceits  approve.  Arraign  the  Scrip- 
tures at  the  bar  of  human  reason,  call  it  science,  or  philo- 
sophy, or  higher  criticism,  or  whatever  you  please,  and 
the  result  is  not  far  to  see.  Reason  serves  the  summons, 
sits  as  judge,  testifies  as  a  witness,  prosecutes  the  case, 
interprets  the  law,  and  pronounces  the  sentence — lynch 
law  in  a  new  role. 

This  reverses  the  attitude  of  all  the  parties,  and  ends 
only  in  disaster.  The  general  exegesis  given  is  sustained 
by  any  fair  interpretation  of  the  whole  trend  of  Scripture. 
Compare  Job,  chapters  xxxviii.  to  xli ;  Psa.  xciv.  9 ;  Isa. 
chapter  xl. ;  Matt.  vi.  30;  Psa.  xxxiii.  6,  7. 

Evolution  tends  to  elevate  natural  law  into  a  supreme 
intelligent  force,  in  the  place  of  a  personal  creator,  and 
is  so  far  pantheistic.  It  also  minimizes  the  supernatural 
and  explains  away  the  miraculous,  and  is  so>  far  atheistic. 
It  is  thus  that  extremes  meet.  It  is  hard  to  distinguish 
between  a  thorough-going  pantheism  and  a  bald  atheism. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Geology  and  the  Mosaic  Cosmos. 

The  State  of  the  Question. 

GEOLOGY  is  the  science  of  the  earth's  formation 
and  growth.  It  is  based  on  observed  facts.  Like 
every  other  science,  it  has  its  speculative  side,  its  induc- 
tions, its  deductions,  and  its  working  hypotheses.  It  has 
connections  with  other  sciences,  and  its  sidelights  upon 
creation,  and  its  bearing  upon  the  Mosaic  account  of 
origins.  Perhaps  no  one  of  the  speculative  sciences  has 
rilled  so  large  a  place  in  public  interest  as  this  in  modern 
times.  It  was  the  first  of  the  physical  sciences  to  demand 
a  modified  interpretation  of  the  account  of  creation  in 
Genesis.  Starting  with  Galileo's  claim  that  the  earth  is 
round,  it  suggested  a  revision  of  the  exegesis  which 
taught  that  the  earth  was  flat  and  square,  and  that  the 
heavenly  bodies  revolved  around  the  earth.  A  more 
accurate  study  of  the  laws  of  language  has  enabled  the 
reader  to  distinguish  more  accurately  between  literal  and 
figurative  language,  and  between  the  scientific  and  popu- 
lar use  of  terms. 

The  whole  Christian  world  has  stood  ready  to  revise 
the  traditional  interpretation  whenever  science  has  seemed 
to  demand  it.  The  age  of  the  world,  the  duration  of  the 
creative  activities,  the  extent  of  the  flood,  and  other  tradi- 
tional interpretations  of  Scripture  have  been  challenged 
and  revised  at  the  behest  of  this  and  kindred  sciences.  It 
is  a  question  whether  this  surrender  and  revision  has  not 
been  carried  too  far,  and  whether  principles  of  interpreta- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  97 

tion  have  not  been  adopted  which  tend  to  destroy  all 
sound  teaching;  and  whether  this  process  has  not  opened 
wide  the  door  for  every  form  of  error,  and  especially 
the  evolutionary  philosophy  of  tne  Higher  Criticism,  and 
the  practical  rejection  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  infallible 
word  of  God.  A  false  principle  of  interpretation  once 
adopted  to  compass  a  certain  end,  is  sure  to  assert  itself 
elsewhere. 

The  popular  notion  that  the  world  is  only  six  thousand 
years  old  has  been  given  up,  not  only  because  geology 
seems  to  prove  the  contrary,  but  a  careful  study  of 
Genesis  does  not  make  it  so  appear.  It  only  says,  "In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth." 

Stratified  rocks  and  fossils  indicate  great  age.  On 
any  theory  of  the  formation  of  the  earth's  strata  much 
time  was  required.  Also  the  formation  of  the  coal  meas- 
ures and  the  abrasion  of  mountains  since  their  formation ; 
the  filling  up  of  estuaries ;  the  scooping  out  of  valleys  ; 
the  formation  of  modern  deltas,  and  many  other  things, 
satisfy  the  candid  mind  that  much  time  has  been  required. 
The  tendency,  however,  now  is  to  shorten  the  estimates 
of  the  time  necessary. 

There  have  been  two  leading  theories,  the  Uniformi- 
tarian  and  the  Catastrophist.  The  Uniformitarian  claims 
that  nature's  forces  have  always  moved  slowly,  and  in  the 
same  volume  as  at  the  present  time.  This  theory  greatly 
extended  the  time  neccessary.  The  Catastrophist  has 
taught  that  the  present  adjustments  have  been  the  result 
of  great  catastrophes,  or  cataclysms  of  nature,  operating 
with  inconceivable  power  in  the  earlier  ages,  until  the 
present  state  of  equilibrium  was  reached. 

The  more  popular  view  now  is,  that  it  takes  both  these 
theories  to  account  for  present  conditions.  Stratified  and 
fossiliferous    rocks    usually    indicate    periods  of    repose. 


98  The  Scriptures, 

Conglomerates,  mountain  ranges,  upheavals,  depressions, 
fissures,  volcanic  rocks  and  floods,  indicate  great  catas- 
trophes and  inconceivable  forces. 

The  geologist  reports  an  order  of  succession  of  life 
on  the  earth,  as  indicated  by  fossils,  which  is  much  the 
same  as  in  Moses'  account  in  Genesis.  We  shall  note  the 
use  made  of  this  later  on. 

Geology  proper  classifies  the  rocks  and  fossils  found  in 
the  crust  of  the  earth  into  periods  of  formation,  and  these 
periods  are  variously  sub-divided,  according  to  the  order 
of  formation  and  the  fossils  found  in  different  strata. 

La  Place's  nebular  hypothesis  is  an  astronomical  theory 
which  overlaps  geology  because  the  earth  is  one  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  It  gives  an  outline  of  the  origin  and 
earlier  formation  of  suns  and  planets  and  satellites — the 
formation  of  worlds.  The  geologist  adopts  La  Place's 
theory  as  defining  the  origin  and  formation  of  the  earth 
down  to  the  time  when  life  was  introduced  upon  it.  The 
crust  of  the  earth  furnishes  nothing  to  the  observer  from 
which  to  make  inductions  from  which  to  originate  and 
set  up  this  theory,  though  he  may  find  some  facts  which 
seem  to  cohere  with  it. 

It  is  now  customary  to  classify  geologic  times,  or  the 
life  of  the  earth,  into  six  great  periods.  Four  of  these 
are  hypothetical,  and  drawn  from  La  Place's  theory  of  the 
heavens ;  and  the  line  of  subdivision  here  would  seem  to 
be  arbitrary,  or,  at  least,  to  be  suggested  and  dictated  to 
serve  a  purpose.  The  fifth  and  sixth  periods  are  gener- 
alizations from  observation  on  the  crust  of  the  earth. 
These  two  periods  seem  to  have  necessary  sub-divisions, 
as  they  are  presented.    We  shall  consider  this  further  on. 

The  meagreness  of  geological  exploration,  even  on  land, 
to  say  nothing  of  that  which  underlies  the  ocean  beds,  is 
also  to  be  considered.    The  laws  of  simultaneity  and  sue- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  99 

cession  are  by  no  means  settled.  In  fact,  limited  dredging 
of  the  ocean's  bed  suggests  serious  revision  of  these  laws. 
Then  again,  fossils  are  often  found  in  their  burial  places 
rather  than  where  the  animals  lived.  These  things  are 
noted  as  a  caveat  against  the  infallibility  of  geological 
science. 

Still,  in  this  case  also,  there  is  no  objection  to  any  and 
every  well-ascertained  fact  in  historical  geology.  The 
question  to  be  discussed  is  whether  Moses  said  anything 
at  all  about  it. 

Mere  science  can  take  no  account  of  the  supernatural 
in  world-making,  nor  recognize  its  limits.  This  is  true 
of  all  nature.  In  tracing  the  natural  back  towards  its 
origin,  no  one  can  tell  where  the  one  ends  or  the  other 
begins.  This  is  a  matter  of  revelation,  as  is  all  we  know 
of  creation ;  and  we  know  it  only  by  faith  in  what  God 
himself  says  about  it  in  the  Scriptures.  It  remains,  there- 
fore, that  the  dJata  given  in  revelation  determine  any 
theory  of  creation,  or  any  cosmoganic  theory,  so  far,  at 
least,  as  the  Scriptures  touch  it  at  all. 

An  infidel  theory  rejects  Moses  altogether.  It  makes 
no  difference  to  it  what  Moses  does  or  does  not  teach  in 
his  account  of  creation.  Its  advocates  claim  that  the 
whole  story  is  made  up  of  myths  and  fancies  which  have 
no  real  value  except  such  as  inheres  in  all  mythical  tradi- 
tions. It  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  set  up  the  Scriptures 
against  the  skeptic.  We  may,  therefore,  dismiss  his  con- 
tention as  not  pertinent  to  this  discussion. 

There  are  two  leading  Christian  theories  held  by  men 
of  equal  faith  and  devotion.  There  would  seem  to  be  no 
objection  to  either  theory  as  to  its  actual  content  if  it  be 
taught  in  the  Scripture,  and  is  sustained  by  a  proper  ex- 
egesis of  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation. 

One  theory  claims  that  the  days  of  Moses  are  indefinite 


ioo  The  Scriptures, 

periods  of  time,  of  immense  duration,  which  they  call 
cosmogonic  days ;  and  that  these  days  span  the  whole  arc 
of  time,  from  the  first  incandescence  in  a  universe  of  in- 
finitely attenuated  matter  down  to  the  creation  of  man. 
This  theory  is  called  the  "Tayler  Lewis"  theory,  not  be- 
cause he  originated  it,  but  because  he  was  the  ablest  and 
fullest  expounder  of  it. 

The  other  theory  follows  the  traditional  view,  that  the 
six  days  of  Moses  are  six  natural  days  of  twenty-four 
hours  each,  and  that  Moses  did  not  essay  to  tell  anything 
of  the  historic  geology  of  the  earth  beyond  about  six 
thousand  years  ago.  This  is  called  the  "Chalmers" 
theory,  because  it  was  elaborated  and  defended  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Chalmers,  who  was  an  eminent  scientist  as  well 
as  theologian,  and  in  no  sense  a  disbeliever  in  geology. 

The  Tayler  Lewis  theory  takes  the  six  periods  already 
referred  to,  and  draws  an  ingenious  parallel  with  the 
six  days  of  Moses,  and  claims  that  Moses  was  describing 
these  six  periods  in  definite  terms  as  the  real  history  of 
the  various  stages  of  creation — and  that  he  so  described 
the  processes.  Hugh  Miller  invented  the  theory  that 
Moses  saw  it  all  pass  before  his  eyes  in  panoramic  visions, 
and  that  he  wrote  down  the  leading  features  of  each  cos- 
mogonic period. 

Principal  Dawson  presents  this  theory  of  cosmogonic 
days  in  his  "Origin  of  the  World,"  in  tabulated  parallels, 
and  argues  the  essential  harmony  of  the  teachings  of 
geology  with  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation.  Professor 
Guyot,  of  Princeton,  does  the  same  thing  in  his  book 
"Creation."  Both  these  men  were  of  great  scientific  at- 
tainments, of  unquestioned  piety,  and  learned  in  the 
Scriptures.  The  two  books  referred  to  are  of  great 
ability,  and  as  fascinating  as  such  a  theme  must  be  if  it  be 
ably  presented1. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  ioi 

This  theory  makes  Moses'  seventh  day  the  "Period  of 
Human  History."  It  also  adds  an  eighth  day,  to  which 
the  Scriptures  do  point — a  period  of  eternal  blessedness 
in  heaven.  This  theory,  if  true,  converts  geology,  in  its 
main  outlines,  into  a  "Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

Chalmers'  theory  limits  Moses'  account  to  the  creation 
of  the  present  cosmos  in  six  natural  days.  It  holds  that 
Moses  makes  no  reference  to  the  geological  history  of  the 
earth  prior  to  the  week  in  which  man  was  introduced 
upon  the  earth.  It  locates  all  the  periods  of  the  geologist, 
which  embrace  La  Place's  theory  of  the  heavens  as  well, 
prior  to  these  six  days.  It  is  willing  to  accept,  so  far  as 
may  be  proven,  all  that  geology  teaches  concerning  its 
cosmogonic  periods. 

Each  theory  would  seem  to  be  equally  scientific.  They 
part  company  on  a  mere  question  of  exegesis.  The  only 
point  at  issue  between  the  two  is  this,  "What  did  Moses 
say  in  Genesis?  And  how  is  it  to  be  interpreted  and 
understood?  What  are  the  facts  recited  by  Moses,  and 
do  these  facts  belong  to  historic  geological  science  ?"  This 
is  the  real  question  at  issue.  Much  of  the  apparent  con- 
tradictions of  the  Bible  and  science,  and  the  logomachy 
of  the  scientist  and  the  theologian  has  originated  in  mis- 
taking the  real  issue.  The  only  question  is  "What  does 
the  P>ible  teach,  when  fairly  interpreted,  according  to 
the  laws  of  language?"  In  this  case,  "Are  Moses'  days 
six  natural  days,  or  six  cosmogonic  days  ?" 


CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Six  Days  of  Creation. 

WE  HAVE  seen  that  the  Tayler  Lewis  theory  in- 
terprets the  six  days  to  be  periods  of  great 
length,  corresponding  to  the  six  periods  of  historic 
geology,  as  already  noted.  The  Chalmers  theory  con- 
strues them  as  six  natural  days  at  the  end  of  geological 
time,  and  at  the  beginning  of  human  history.  This  is  a 
question  of  pure  exegesis.  So*  far  as  the  science  of 
geology  is  concerned,  as  a  science,  it  is  of  small  moment 
which  theory  prevails ;  but  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  correct  principles  of  interpretation  prevail,  because 
the  value  of  the  inspired  Scriptures  depends  on  a  sound 
exegesis,  not  only  in  this  case,  but  everywhere.  All 
errors  and  heresies  in  doctrine  and  practice  seek  to  en- 
trench themselves  in  some  false  philosophy,  and  in  some 
corresponding  false  exegesis  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  Tayler  Lewis  theory  has  three  schemes  of  ex- 
egesis : 

i.  That  Moses'  account  is  poetic  and  allegorical,  rather 
than  historic. 

2.  That  Moses  probably  received  his  revelation  of  the 
creation  in  panoramic  vision,  possibly  in  six  natural  days. 

3.  That  Moses'  days  are  real  periods  of  time  of  long 
duration,  and  that  the  details  are  accurate  science  in  out- 
line. 

Lewis,  Dawson,  and  Guyot  use  all  three  of  these 
schemes.  They  argue  the  first  and  the  second  as  plausible 
and1  probable  schemes,  which  do  satisfy  some  inquirers 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  103 

after  truth;  and  the  reader  would  suppose  from  their 
use  of  them  that  they  consider  them  of  real  logical  value. 
The  fact  is,  however,  that  they  all  argue  the  third  scheme 
elaborately,  and  seek  to  show,  by  the  use  of  words  and 
phrases,  and  by  comparison  of  other  Scriptures,  and  by 
necessary  definitions,  that  Moses  told  the  story  of  crea- 
tion in  categorical  statement,  substantially  as  the  geologist 
tells  it.  They  claim,  also,  that  the  geologist  confirms 
Moses,  and  thereby  renders  valuable  service  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  then,  in  turn,  that  Moses  confirms  the  geologist 
in  his  claim  to  have  interpreted  nature  aright.  Or,  in 
other  words,  that  the  two  are  ancillary  to  each  other,  and 
mutually   helpful. 

The  first  scheme  claims  that  Moses'  account  is  poetic 
and  allegorical,  rather  than  literal  history.  We  may  reply 
to  this  that  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  this  account 
of  creation  is  poetry  in  any  sense.  The  language  he  uses 
is  the  simplest  form  of  prose  writing — simple  and  yet 
majestic.  Hebrew  poetry  has  peculiarities  of  form  and 
expression,  which  are  easily  identified  as  such,  and  Moses 
sometimes  wrote  in  poetic  numbers,  but  we  would  hardly 
expect  him  to  write  poetic  prose  in  the  form  of  historic 
statement  unless  he  so  intended  it.  No  one,  however, 
says  that  his  account  is  poetry,  but  poetic. 

An  allegory  is  one  story  told  and  another  story  meant, 
and  the  reader  is  expected  to  supply  the  second  as  he 
reads  and  studies  the  first.  The  first  story  may  or  may 
not  be  true;  it  may  or  may  not  be  possible.  The  second 
story  corresponds  to  the  first  in  all  their  details,  and  the 
second  story  is  not  only  possible,  but  true  in  all  the  details. 
The  claim  is  put  forth  that  the  account  of  creation  is  alle- 
gorical, in  order  to  teach  some  great  spiritual  truth.  No 
one  has  yet  written  out  the  second  story  which  is  the  alle- 
gorical lesson  of  Moses'  story.  But  it  is  not  claimed  that 
the  account  is  an  allegory,  but  merely  allegorical. 


104  The  Scriptures, 

We  here  note  the  three  adjectives,  "poetic,  allegorical, 
and  historical."  Are  they  referring  simply  to  style  in  the 
use  of  these  three  adjectives  to  characterize  Moses'  ac- 
count of  creation?  If  so,  the  whole  plea  is  sophistical. 
Later  critics  are  more  consistent  when  they  deny  entirely 
the  historicity  of  Moses'  account  in  the  interest  of  what 
they  are  pleased  to  call  "high  spiritual  lessons  taught  in 
poetic  and  allegorical  form."  No  one  denies  that  im- 
portant spiritual  lessons  may  be  drawn  from  the  account 
of  creation  as  well  as  from  any  and  all  of  the  works  of 
God,  so  far  as  revealed  or  manifested. 

However,  the  advocates  of  the  theory  of  cosmogonic 
days  do  not  wish  to  get  rid  of  the  historicity  of  the 
Mosaic  account.  They  evidently  wish  only  to  get  rid 
of  what  might  seem  to  be  the  necessary  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  his  simple  story. 

The  second  scheme  says  that  Moses  probably  received 
the  revelation  about  creation  by  visions,  similar  to  the 
prophetic  visions  of  later  prophets.  Joseph  and  Pharaoh, 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  Daniel,  Ezekiel  and  John,  had 
visions  indicating  things  that  would  come  to  pass,  some 
near  at  hand,  while  others  revealed  the  trend  of  history, 
the  great  historic  events  far  away.  Why  not  reveal  to 
Moses  the  far  distant  past  in  panoramic  visions  passing 
before  his  face?  Prophetic  vision  might  look  backward 
as  well  as  forward,  because  the  essence  of  the  revelation 
is  essentially  the  same  in  each  case. 

Hugh  Miller  invented  this  theory,  and  held  that  the 
visions  passed  before  Moses  in  six  natural  days,  and  are 
so  recorded  in  Genesis.  Others  say,  "probably  in  six 
natural  days."  If  this  be  conceded,  the  six  days  of  Moses 
are  confessedly  six  natural  days,  and  there  is  need  of  no 
further  discussion  of  that  point.     The  only  question  to 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  105 

investigate  is  whether  Moses  records  a  series  of  visions, 
and  if  so,  who  may  interpret  them  with  authority. 

In  the  recorded  visions  of  later  times,  they  are  recorded 
as  such.  Sometimes  a  prophet  interpreted  them,  as,  for 
example,  Pharaoh's  and  Nebuchadnezzar's  visions  of  the 
night.  Sometimes  they  were  interpreted  by  God  who 
gave  the  visions,  as  in  the  case  of  some  of  Daniel's  visions. 
Sometimes  they  were  not  interpreted  at  all,  as  in  some 
parts  of  John's  visions  at  Patmos,  which  have  waited  on 
their  fulfilment  to  interpret  them. 

Now,  if  Moses'  account  of  creation  is  a  series  of  visions 
they  are  not  recorded  as  such ;  nor  is  there  the  most  dis- 
tant hint  in  the  text  or  the  context  that  Moses  got  any  of 
his  knowledge  of  the  past  in  any  such  way.  We  say, 
therefore,  that  the  assumption  is  gratuitous,  and  is  made 
in  the  interest  of  a  pre-conceived  theory.  And  if  his  ac- 
count is  a  series  of  visions,  who  has  a  right  to  interpret 
them  with  authority?  We  are,  therefore,  at  liberty  to 
pass  by  this  scheme  as  having  no  foundation  in  fact,  nor 
in  the  principles  of  a  safe  exegesis. 

It  is  more  to  the  purpose  that  the  third  scheme  logically 
excludes  the  first  and  the  second.  It  claims  that  Moses' 
account  is  real  history,  and  that  the  details  of  it  are  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  ascertained  facts  of  science. 

If  the  account  is  poetic  and  allegorical,  rather  than  his- 
torical, this  impinges  on  the  claimed  historicity  of  the 
third  scheme.  And  if  it  be  a  series  of  visions,  and  that, 
too,  without  an  authorized  interpreter,  how  can  it  be 
literal  history?  The  three  schemes  would  seem  mutually 
to  exclude  each  other.  It  is  difficult  to  see  why  all  three 
should  be  set  forth  in  the  same  discussion,  and  even  as- 
sumed to  be  true.  It  is  not  uncommon  in  civil  proceed- 
ings in  law  for  the  defendant  to  set  up  several  contrary, 
and  even  contradictory,  pleas,  so  that,  failing  to  prove 


106  The  Scriptures, 

one,  he  may  fall  back  on  another,  or  still  another,  either 
one  of  which  would  release  him.  Such  processes,  how- 
ever, are  hardly  allowable  in  logical  investigation,  much 
less  the  assumption  of  all  at  once. 

The  third  scheme  is  the  one  on  which  they  mainly  rely. 
We  may,  therefore,  examine  it  in  detail. 

They  argue  that  the  word  "yom,"  which  is  translated 
"day,"  is  often  used  as  an  adverb  of  time,  of  indefinite 
duration ;  and  that  it  is  often  used  figuratively.  We  have 
examples  of  this  in  phrases  like  these,  "in  that  day,"  "in 
the  day,"  "the  day  of  adversity,"  etc.  This  we  freely 
concede,  for  the  word  "day"  is  used  in  a  similar  way  in 
all  languages.  But  we  must  determine  from  the  context 
and  from  prescriptive  usage  when  the  word  day  is  literal 
and  when  it  is  used  adverbially  or  figuratively. 

Assuming  that  the  word  "day"  is  used  figuratively  here 
for  an  indefinite  period,  they  make  the  "evening  and  the 
morning,"  the  "darkness  and  the  light,"  of  Genesis  i. 
4,  5,  to  signify  beginning  and  progress,  quiescence  and 
activity  in  nature's  forces,  in  each  period.  They  cite 
such  familiar  figures  as  these  as  parallel :  "the  morning 
and  evening  of  life;"  "sorrow  may  endure  for  a  night, 
but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning;"  "work  while  it  is  day, 
the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work." 

Then  they  claim  that  "the  waters,"  and  "the  deep"  of 
verse  two  are  the  names  Moses  gives  to  the  measureless 
expanse  of  created  matter,  in  its  most  attenuated  possible 
form,  before  it  began  to  contract  and  revolve  and  grow 
luminous  by  chemical  action  and  frictional  electricity. 
And  they  say  that  Moses  uses  these  words  to  represent; 
it  for  want  of  better  words,  and  (because  of  the  poverty 
and  the  paucity  of  language,  and  its  inadequacy  to  ex- 
press the  real  facts.  Also,  that  the  word  "earth,"  in 
verse  two,  was  the  original  "chaos"  which  became  the 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  107 

earth  ages  afterwards  and  was  enveloped  in  the  measure- 
less chaos  of  original  matter;  and  that  the  "face  of  the 
deep,"  and  the  "face  of  the  waters,"  on  which  the  Spirit 
brooded,  simply  represented  the  formless  and  measure- 
less expanse  of  chaos.  All  the  rest  of  Moses'  account  is 
accepted  as  literal. 

They  rely  mainly  on  the  coincidences  in  the  parallel 
between  Moses'  days  and  the  cosmogonic  days,  and  claim 
that  they  prove  identity.  They  adopt  an  unproven  hypo- 
thesis of  world-making,  sub-divide  its  stages  in  an  arbi- 
trary way  to  suit  a  purpose,  and  give  new  and  unusual 
definitions  to  the  most  familiar  things  in  Moses'  account, 
in  order  to  institute  a  parallel,  and  then  argue  from  this 
parallel  to  prove  that  they  have  rightly  interpreted  both 
Moses  and  astronomical  and  geological  facts. 

The  Chalmers  theory  says  that  they  have  probably  in- 
terpreted nature  aright,  but  not  Moses.  It  claims  that 
the  entire  account  is  literal,  and  that  the  words  "waters," 
"the  deep,"  "face  of  the  waters,"  "day,"  "night,"  "even- 
ing," "morning,"  "darkness",  and  "light"  are  used  in 
their  simple  and  familiar  meanings,  exactly  like  the  words 
"dry  land,"  "earth,"  "seas,"  "fowls,"  "cattle,"  "grass," 
"fruit  trees,"  "sun,"  "moon,"  "man,"  and  "woman." 

On  either  theory  the  first  verse  is  declarative  and  prefa- 
tory. "In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth."  It  indicates  nothing  as  to  the  truth  of  either 
theory,  and  fits  each  equally  well.  No  special  hiatus  of 
time  is  suggested,  as  some  suppose,  and  either  theory 
might  begin  with  this  statement. 

Verse  two  describes  the  condition  of  the  earth  just 
prior  to  the  first  day  of  Moses.  "The  earth  was  without 
form  and  void;  and  darkness  was  over  the  face  of  the 
deep ;  and  the  spirit  of  God  moved  on  the  face  of  the 


108  The  Scriptures, 

waters."    If  we  follow  the  literal  interpretation,  we  notice 
several  things : 

i.  The  earth  was  "without  form."  The  Revised  Ver- 
sion says  "was  waste."  This  indicates  the  absence  of 
order  and  beauty  as  we  now  see,  and  implies  that  some 
previous  order  of  things  had  been  destroyed  or  laid 
waste. 

2.  The  earth  "was  void."  Gesenius  says  "desolation — 
empty."  This  must  be  empty  of  life,  both  vegetable  and 
animal  life,  for  he  proceeds  to  tell  how  the  conditions 
were  prepared  and  improved,  and  then  how  all  forms  of 
life  were  introduced. 

3.  The  earth  was  covered  with  water — a  universal  de- 
luge of  waters,  properly  called  "the  deep."  This  is  con- 
firmed by  verses  9  and  10,  which  tell  of  the  gathering  of 
the  waters  into  seas,  and  the  appearance  of  the  dry  land. 

4.  Absolute  darkness  over  the  water  covered  the  earth. 

5.  There  was  no  suitable  atmosphere.  This  has  been 
accepted  as  the  "firmanent"  or  expanse. 

Now,  these  five  things  do  at  least  cohere  with  each 
other,  and  seem  to  have  been  the  result  of  some  great 
cataclysm  of  nature,  the  destruction  of  a  former  cosmos, 
to  make  way  for  a  new  order  of  things.  This,  again, 
coheres  with  the  theory  of  the  catastrophists,  and  with 
the  fact  of  the  post-glacial  deluge,  of  which  geologists 
tell  us. 

It  was  once  customary  to  locate  the  glacial  period 
about  three  hundred  thousand  years  ago.  More  recent 
authorities  bring  it  down  to  ten  thousand  years  ago,  and 
even  to  four  thousand  years  ago  in  Northern  Europe. 
The  theory  of  total  darkness,  and  a  total  retraction,  or 
shutting  out  of  the  sun's  light  and  heat,  accounts  for 
the  glacial  period  better  than  any  other  theory.  Total 
darkness,   intense  cold,   and   a   vitiated   atmosphere,   ac- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  109 

counts  for  the  destruction  of  former  life.  Nothing  but 
the  post-glacial  deluge  could  break  up  the  glacial  period. 
We  may,  therefore,  suppose  and  fairly  infer,  that  Moses 
begins  his  account  of  the  creation  while  this  deluge  cov- 
ered the  face  of  the  earth,  and  he  tells  us  of  the  creation 
of  the  present  cosmos. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  waters  that  covered  the  earth 
(verse  two)  and  the  waters  that  were  collected  in  one 
place,  and  called  "seas,"  (verses  9  and  10)  and  the  waters 
that  brought  forth  abundant  living,  moving  creatures 
(verses  20  and  21)  were  one  and  the  same  waters.  This 
is  required  by  a  sound  canon  of  interpretation,  which 
says  that  the  same  word  in  the  same  context  means  the 
same  thing,  unless  the  context  or  prescriptive  usage  de- 
mand the  contrary. 

We  may  easily  see,  in  the  light  of  this  rule  of  inter- 
pretation, that  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word  "day"  is 
required,  both  by  the  context  and  by  prescriptive  usage. 
Verses  4  and  5  do  express  a  natural  day  exhaustively. 
"God  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness.  And  God 
called  the  light  day,  and  the  darkness  he  called  night. 
And  the  evening  and  the  morning  was  the  first  day." 
This  corresponds  to  the  usage  of  the  same  terms  in  the 
Hebrew  elsewhere,  and  we  find  the  same  forms  of  ex- 
pression in  all  languages  to  designate  a  natural  day.  In 
fact,  we  find  two  usages  of  the  same  term  "day"  in  the 
same  verse  clearly  recognized  and  authorized  by  prescrip- 
tive usage,  i.  e.,  day  as  opposed  to  night,  and  day  in- 
cluding day  and  night. 

By  looking  further  into  the  context,  (Gen.  ii.  2,  3,) 
we  find  that  the  seventh  day  is  certainly  a  natural  day. 
He  ended  his  work  and  ceased  or  rested  on  the  seventh 
day;  and  "God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified  it; 
because  that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all  his  work  which 


no  The  Scriptures, 

God  created  and  made."  The  day  he  sanctified  was  the 
seventh  day  of  the  week.  The  pronoun  "it"  fixes  the 
matter.  He  sanctified  it,  because  in  "it"  he  rested.  The 
fourth  commandment  confirms  this.  Now,  if  the  seventh 
day  in  the  count  is  a  natural  day,  the  other  six  must  be 
the  same,  according  to  all  modes  of  computation.  Per- 
haps no  expositor  would  be  hardy  enough  to  alter  the 
statement  and  say  that  God  sanctified  the  period  of 
human  history  because  in  it  he  rested. 

The  explanation  of  the  fourth  day  presents  less  diffi- 
culties here  than  in  the  cosmogonic  theory.  It  is  easy 
to  suppose  that  the  causes  which  shut  out  the  light  of  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  only  partially  removed  the  first 
three  days,  and  completely  removed  on  the  fourth  day. 
This  may  not  be  the  real  explanation,  but  it  is  simpler 
than  the  more  cumbrous  hypotheses  of  the  others. 

We  may  pass  this  further  criticism  on  the  cosmogonic 
day.  Complex  figures  are  disallowed  in  serious  discourse, 
though  they  often  constitute  the  soul  of  wit ;  and  they  are 
unsuited  to  scientific  statement.  When  any  word  or  thing 
is  used  figuratively,  the  natural  properties  and  qualities 
may  not  be  used  to  amplify  the  figure  without  absurdity. 
The  figure  is  limited  to  the  single  point  and  not  to  all  its 
content.  So,  if  the  word  "day"  is  used  figuratively,  we 
are  not  permitted  to  use  any  property  or  quality  of  the 
natural  day  except  such  as  may  be  of  the  very  essence  of 
the  figure.  This  rule  is  often  sadly  violated  by  allegoriz- 
ing expounders  of  Scripture.  If  the  "day"  be  a  figure  of 
sreech,  we  may  not  talk  of  its  evening  or  morning,  its 
darkness  and  light. 

It  is  admitted  by  some  geologists  that  only  three  or 
four  species  of  shell  fish  survived  the  glacial  period,  that 
only  one  creeping  thing,  the  cockroach,  dates  back  to  the 
carboniferous  age,  and  that,  of  trees,  beeches  and  larches 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  hi 

survive  in  sections  where  they  abounded  in  former  geo- 
logical ages.  There  are  several  ways  of  accounting  for 
these  things  without  supposing  that  they  set  aside  the 
Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  of  the  present  cosmos 
and  its  life,  less  than  ten  thousand  years  ago.  Dawson 
admits  the  introduction  of  an  Edenic  group  of  animals 
along  with  man.    Why  not  more?    Why  not  all? 


CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Deluge. 

GEOLOGY  discovers  a  great  many  floods  in  geologic 
ages,  and  each  of  these  marks  a  stage  in  the  re- 
mote history  of  the  earth.  Land  and  water  date  back 
very  far  in  geologic  time,  and  there  is  ample  evidence  that 
they  have  been  in  continual  conflict.  Aided  by  cold  and 
heat,  and  by  meteoric  and  seismic  forces,  the  water  has 
battled  against  continents  and  mountain  ranges,  shaping 
hills  and  valleys  in  endless  change.  Water  has  also  been 
the  necessary  condition  of  infusorial  and  coral  agencies, 
which  have  formed  reefs  and  islands  and  unmeasured 
beds  of  strata.  But  water  has  done  its  greatest  work  in 
tremendous  cataclysms  of  nature — storms  and  floods, 
abrading  the  continents,  filling  up  valleys,  depositing  its 
freight  of  broken  and  disintegrated  materials  in  strata  of 
conglomerates,  sandstones,  slates,  and  clays. 

These  great  floods  are  in  evidence  everywhere,  some 
of  limited  extent  and  duration,  and  some  universal.  From 
the  nature  of  the  case,  the  data  are  wanting  to  determine 
to  what  extent  these  many  floods  were  contemporaneous, 
successive,  limited,  or  universal.  We  know  that  some 
were  limited  and  some  were  universal.  Some  seem  to 
'have  been  caused  by  the  slow  subsidence  and  uprising  of 
coast-lines  or  continents,  and  others  by  the  rapid  crump- 
ling of  the  earth's  crust,  earthquake,  fissure,  and  storm, 
producing  the  most  terrific  results  in  the  rapid  succession 
of  ebb  and  flow. 

We  have  no  history  of  all  this  except  as  the  geologist 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  113 

interprets  present  conditions  as  he  sees  them,  and  reads 
the  record  of  rocks  and  strata.  We  are  not  here  con- 
cerned with  these,  except  to  note  that  floods  are  no 
novelty  in  the  earth's  history.  These  works  of  nature  are 
also  God's  works  of  providence;  and  David  might  well 
have  said  of  them,  ''The  waters  saw  thee,  O  God,  the 
waters  saw  thee;  they  were  afraid:  the  depths  also  were 
troubled,"  etc.  (Psa.  lxxvii.  16-19.)  Isaiah  well  said: 
"He  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hands,"  etc.  (Isa.  xl.  12.)  And  we  may  note  that  floods 
of  water  furnish  a  favorite  figure  throughout  the  Scrip- 
tures to  set  forth  his  power  and  control  over  all  things, 
both  for  judgment  and  mercy,  and  for  the  glory  of  his 
great  and  holy  name. 

The  two  last  floods  that  prevailed  on  the  earth  are 
well  authenticated,  and  perhaps  better  understood  than 
any  of  the  rest,  because  they  are  recent  and  their  traces 
are  more  obvious.  They  are  the  post-glacial  deluge  and 
the  Noachian  deluge.  They  both  seem  to  have  been  uni- 
versal. In  Psa.  civ.  6-9,  we  find  a  history  that  may  easily 
describe  both.  "Thou  coveredst  it  with  the  deep  as  a 
garment.  The  waters  stood  above  the  mountains.  At 
thy  rebuke  they  fled;  at  the  voice  of  thy  thunder  they 
hasted  away.  They  go  up  by  the  mountains,  they  go 
down  by  the  valleys,  unto  the  place  thou  hast  founded  for 
them,"  etc. 

The  post-glacial  deluge  calls  for  a  brief  consideration 
here,  because  it  was  once  generally  confounded  with  the 
flood  of  Noah,  and  its  evidences  were  ascribed  to  the 
later  deluge. 

Geologists  tell  us  of  a  glacial  period  in  recent  times 
of  the  earth's  history,  during  which  there  were  immense 
accumulations  of  ice  on  that  part  of  the  earth's  surface 
that  stood  out  of  the  water.     They  once  dated  back  this 


ii4  The  Scriptures, 

period  to  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years.  The  best 
authorities  now,  among  whom  we  include  Principal  Daw- 
son, claim  that  it  extended  down  to  from  six  to  ten  thous- 
and years  ago,  and  probably  to  four  thousand  years  ago, 
in  Northern  Europe.  This  glacial  period  was  broken  up 
with  a  post-glacial  deluge,  which  epoch  ended  all  previous 
geologic  history  for  the  introduction  of  the  present  cosmos 
by  creative  hand. 

We  claim  that  Moses  took  up  the  history  at  this  point, 
as  is  much  more  fully  set  forth  in  another  chapter,  in 
which  we  discuss  the  six  days  of  creation.  The  story  of 
this  deluge,  and  its  conditions  and  its  removal,  as  found 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  is  in  a  proper  sense  his- 
toric, because  God  is  the  historian  by  inspiration.  We 
fairly  infer  the  universality  of  this  flood,  from  Gen.  i.  2, 
This  makes  it  easier  to  our  exegesis  and  to  our  faith  to 
accept  Noah's  flood  as  universal. 

This  last  flood  we  call  "The  Flood,"  to  distinguish  it 
from  all  others.  It  is  our  purpose  to  consider  it  in  some 
of  its  aspects,  so  far  as  they  affect  the  integrity  and  the 
proper  exegesis  of  Scripture. 

First.  The  Flood  is  a  well  attested  historic  fact.  The 
story  is  narrated  in  full  detail  in  Chapters  vi.  to  ix.  of 
Genesis,  which  are  sometimes  spoken  of  as  Noah's  "log- 
book." Christ  refers  to  the  days  of  Noah  and  the  doom 
of  that  generation,  and  adds,  "So  shall  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  be."  (Matt.  xxiv.  37-39.)  He  evidently 
believed  in  it.  Peter  says  "God  spared  not  the  old  world, 
but  saved  Noah,  the  eighth  person,  a  preacher  of  right- 
eousness, bringing  in  the  flood  upon  the  world  of  the 
ungodly."  (2  Pet.  ii.  5;  Compare  iii.  6.)  "The  world 
that  then  was,  being  overflowed  with  water,  perished." 
Also,  1  Pet.  iii.  20.  God  cites  the  waters  of  Noah  in 
Isa.  liv.  9. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  115 

Was  Noah  a  historic  personage  and  a  favorite?  God 
cites  to  Ezekiel  (xiv.  14)  Noah,  Daniel,  and  Job  as  the 
three  men  of  the  ages  most  likely  to  prevail  with  him. 
These  references  to  Noah  and  the  flood  by  Isaiah,  Ezekiel, 
Christ  and  Peter,  do  severally  and  jointly  endorse  the 
entire  story  as  found  in  Genesis,  and  re-inforce  its  ob- 
vious importance. 

We  need  hardly  cite  in  confirmation  the  almost  univer- 
sal tradition  of  the  flood,  embodied  in  the  story  of 
Deucalion,  in  the  Vedas,  or  as  told  on  the  flood  tablet  of 
Babylon.  There  are  some,  however,  who  attach  more 
importance  to  such  evidence  than  to  the  Scriptures. 
These  traditions,  greatly  modified  in  the  transmission 
and  garnished  with  poetic  fancies  and  absurd  conceits, 
lend  their  support  to  the  simple  story  told  by  Moses. 

Second.  Creation  and  the  flood  are  two  great  epochs, 
strangely  unlike  and  yet  strangely  alike.  Creation  origi- 
nates man  and  beast  on  the  earth.  The  flood  terminates 
that  career  for  all,  except  to  preserve  seed  of  man  and 
beast.  Creation  evokes  a  peopled  cosmos  out  of  universal 
deluge.  That  cosmos  and  its  teeming  millions  perished 
by  a  flood  of  waters.  Creation  was  the  starting  point  of 
the  human  race.  After  failure  and  the  destruction  of  the 
wicked,  the  race  took  a  new  start  from  Noah  and  his 
family.  For  all  practical  purposes,  the  flood  was  the  be- 
ginning of  human  history,  warned  by  the  lessons  of  the 
past.  There  were  creation  covenants  and  blessings  for 
the  race.  So,  also,  after  the  flood,  Noah  received  en- 
larged blessings  and  covenants  for  his  posterity. 

Third.  The  traditional  view  has  been  that  the  flood 
was  universal  and  covered  the  whole  earth,  and  that  the 
highest  mountains  were  covered.  Modern  science  at- 
tacked the  traditional  view  and  denied  its  universality, 
limiting  it  to  a  comparatively  small  area  in  Central  Asia. 
They  used  several  arguments: 


n6  The  Scriptures, 

i.  There  was  no  need  of  a  universal  flood  to  drown 
out  a  comparatively  small  group  of  people  inhabiting 
Central  Asia. 

2.  That  science  has  not  discovered  traces  of  so  exten- 
sive a  flood. 

3.  That  the  ark  was  not  large  enough  to  hold  pairs  of 
all  the  animals  in  the  world  and  their  food. 

4.  That  many  of  the  animals  lived  in  regions  too  re- 
mote to  be  represented  in  the  ark. 

5.  That  the  accomplishment  of  the  divine  purpose  did 
not  require  so  great  an  expenditure  and  waste  of  energy. 

6.  Therefore,  the  exegesis  of  the  flood  must  be  revised 
to  fit  the  facts,  for  all  truth  is  a  unit. 

In  all  this  there  is  an  underlying  assumption  that  a 
limited  flood  is  proven  by  a  science  as  infallible  as  the 
Scripture  record,  and  that  the  exegesis  must  be  made  to 
conform  to  the  facts  ascertained  outside  the  Scriptures. 
This  theory  of  the  relations  of  the  Bible  and  science 
started  here.  The  acceptance  of  a  limited  flood  was  popu- 
larized, and  many  a  loyal  heart  accepted  the  new  exegesis 
in  order  to  save  the  Scriptures. 

This  principle  has  been  made  to  do  duty  in  many 
other  directions  in  order  to  make  the  Bible  fit  every 
human  conclusion  supposed  to  be  proven.  Just  here 
Rationalism  gets  in  its  perfect  work,  until,  emboldened  by 
its  successes,  it  essays  to  arraign  any  and  all  Scripture  at 
its  bar,  to  ascertain  what  modicum  of  truth  may  be  found 
therein. 

In  itself  considered,  it  would  be  a  matter  of  small 
moment  whether  the  flood  was  limited  or  universal.  Nor 
would  it  seem  to  matter  much  if  an  honest  but  mistaken 
exegesis  of  the  Scripture  account  fails  to  see  the  facts  as 
they  are.  This  often  happens  with  no  far-reaching  hurt- 
ful results.     But  in  the  case  before  us,  the  issues  are  far- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  117 

reaching  and  vital.  It  is,  therefore,  more  than  the 
threshing  over  of  old  straw  to  discuss  the  flood  once 
more. 

Let  us  examine  briefly  the  arguments  for  a  limited 
flood,  which  make  it  necessary  to  find  a  scheme  of  ex- 
egesis to  correspond : 

1.  The  first  assumes  that  the  human  race  was  a  small 
group,  and  that  they  were  all  settled  in  a  comparatively 
small  district.  Where  is  the  proof  of  this?  If  we  con- 
cede that  the  antediluvians  doubled  the  population  by 
natural  generation  as  rapidly  as  the  Hebrews  in  Egypt, 
or  as  the  negroes  in  the  Southern  States,  and  then  take 
their  long  lives  into  the  account,  and  calculate  by  geome- 
trical progression  for  the  period  from  creation  to  the 
flood,  we  shall  find  that  there  may  have  been  hundreds  of 
millions  of  people  on  the  earth  when  the  flood  came.  The 
small  population  is  a  mere  assumption,  and  can  have  no 
standing  in  the  argument. 

2.  Admit  it  to  be  true  that  scientific  exploration  had 
not  found  evidences  of  so  extensive  a  flood  as  was 
claimed.  Had  it  traced  the  boundaries  of  their  limited 
flood,  and  discovered  that  no  wider  limits  were  possible? 
This  is  a  favorite  fallacy,  argumentum  ab  ignorantia. 

3.  The  argument  from  the  smallness  of  the  ark  has 
been  often  presented.  God  furnished  the  size  and  space 
and  dimensions  of  the  ark,  and  its  system  of  ventilation. 
The  animals  and  birds  went  in,  led  by  an  unerring  in- 
visible hand.  This  implies  that  every  one  went  to  its  own 
place,  divinely  assigned,  and  that  his  providence,  or  some 
other  form  of  supernatural  care,  was  over  them  through- 
out their  year  of  confinement.  It  would  seem  immodest 
to  bring  this  divine  arrangement  to  a  mere  human,  if 
not  a  hostile  arithmetic,  on  the  vain  assumption  that 
"figures  will  not  lie." 


n8  The  Scriptures, 

4.  The  too  great  distance  of  many  animals  is  also  a 
pure  assumption.  We  have  heard  of  the  migra- 
tion of  animals  and  birds.  God  was  the  collector. 
Birds  might  come  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  on 
rapid  wing.  Slow-moving  land  animals  had  120  years  to 
come  if  necessary.  They  were  guided  all  by  an  instinct 
akin  to  inspiration. 

5.  The  objector  assumes  that  he  knows  the  whole  of 
the  divine  purpose  in  connection  with  the  flood,  and  that 
a  universal  deluge  was  not  necessary,  but  rather  a  waste 
of  energy.  We  pass  over  the  arrogance  of  this  claim, 
and  simply  note  that  this  argument  is  only  a  reiteration  of 
previous  assumptions. 

It  would  seem  that  all  five  of  these  pleas  for  a  limited 
flood  may  be  classed  together,  as  mere  negations  and  as- 
sumptions, under  the  fallacy  of  an  argument  from  ig- 
norance. Rationalism  is  a  much  more  respectable  name 
for  it. 

The  latest  form  of  the  theory  of  a  limited  flood  makes 
Noah  the  representative  and  the  father  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean races,  and  claims  that  the  other  seven  great  races 
of  men  were  in  no  wise  affected  by  the  flood.  We  do  not 
propose  here  to  answer  this  theory,  except  as  we  may  vin- 
dicate the  traditional  theory  of  a  universal  deluge.  If 
universal,  then  the  Toldoth-beni-Noah — the  generations 
of  the  sons  of  Noah — include  all  the  divisions  of  people 
on  the  earth,  whether  called  families  or  races,  as  the  Bible 
seems  to  teach  in  Genesis  x. 

No  one  denies  that  the  Bible  story  of  the  flood  seems 
to  teach  that  the  whole  earth  was  covered,  and  the  high 
hills,  and  the  mountains,  fifteen  cubits  above  them  all. 
And  that  all  flesh  died  that  moved  upon  the  earth,  both 
of  fowl  and  of  cattie,  and  of  beast,  and  of  every  creep- 
ing thing  that  creepeth  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  119 

every  man  and  every  living  thing  on  the  dry  land  and  on 
the  face  of  the  ground  and  under  heaven.  And  that 
pairs  of  every  living  thing,  above  named,  upon  the  earth, 
went  into  the  ark  to  be  saved,  and  went  forth  out  of  the 
ark  to  breed  abundantly  in  the  earth,  and  multiply  on 
the  earth.  It  seems  to  be  reiterated  in  every  form  of 
statement,  and  language  seems  to  be  exhausted  to  teach 
the  traditional  view.  (See  Gen.  vi.  13,  17,  19,  20;  vii.  8, 
9>  15.  :9-23;  viii.  17,  19.) 

Now,  is  the  traditional  exegesis  of  a  universal  deluge 
a  mistake?  Have  we  only  the  record  of  a  partial  and 
limited  flood,  destroying  man  and  beast  and  creeping 
thing  only  where  it  prevailed? 

The  terms  "the  earth,"  "the  dry  land,"  "on  the  earth," 
"under  heaven,"  "the  world,"  "the  high  hills,"  "the  moun- 
tains," "everything  that  creepeth  on  the  earth,"  and  such 
like,  must  be  universal  terms  unless  there  be  some  ob- 
vious limitation  in  the  context,  or  by  prescriptive  usage. 
We  do  not  find  either  limitation  in  the  context. 

But  there  is  a  supposed  necessity  for  such  limitation  in 
the  history,  and  it  is  found  in  this  way.  These  terms 
are  sometimes  used  in  a  limited  way.  The  terms  ren- 
dered earth,  land,  ground,  etc.,  are  sometimes  used  to 
signify  limited  parts  of  the  earth;  sometimes  very  narrow 
and  small.  How  do  we  know  this?  By  the  context,  and 
only  by  the  context.  It  is  not  competent  to  say,  that  be- 
cause these  terms  are  sometimes  used  in  secondary  and 
limited  senses,  therefore  they  are  so  used  here,  and  must 
be  so  construed  in  order  not  to  contradict  the  foregone 
conclusion  of  a  limited  flood. 

The  advocates  of  this  view  would  have  written  the 
story  somehow  thus :  God  was  angry  at  the  wickedness 
of  man — (possibly  the  Mediterranean  peoples) — and  he 
determined  to  destroy  their  country,  or  land,  where  they 


i2o  The  Scriptures, 

dwelt,  and  announced,  and  finally  sent,  a  flood  to  destroy 
them  and  their  country,  and  every  beast  and  creeping 
thing  therein,  and  when  the  flood  came  it  covered  every 
high  hill  and  every  mountain  in  that  area.  But  the  more 
distant  regions,  peopled  by  birds  and  beasts  and  creeping 
things,  (and  possibly  the  seven  other  races  of  men)  were 
not  affected  by  it.  The  profaneness  of  rewriting  the  story 
so  is  not  ours. 

If  this  were  the  only  Scripture  wrested  in  this  way  in 
order  to  make  the  Bible  fit  "science,  falsely  so-called," 
and  other  rationalistic  conceits  and  vagaries,  we  could 
perhaps  afford  to  dismiss  it  with  a  smile ;  but  unholy 
hands  have  reconstructed  Bible  history  from  creation  to 
the  birth  of  Christ  in  the  interests  of  a  self-sufficient 
rationalism.  One  ingeniously  converts  the  story  of  crea- 
tion into  infallible  geological  science;  another  finds  in  it 
the  theory  of  evolution  as  God's  mode  of  creation ;  an- 
other decides  with  equal  dogmatism  that  the  earlier  chap- 
ters of  Genesis  are  allegory,  legend  and  myth.  All  of 
these  proceed  on  the  same  false  principles  of  interpreta- 
tion, with  an  increasing  variety  of  detail. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  record,  however,  that  the  exegetical 
dam  once  built  around  the  flood  has  not  withstood  the 
assaults  of  scientific  investigation.  It  goes  without  say- 
ing that  a  darn,  to  withstand  a  flood  of  waters,  ought  to 
be  built  on  a  sure  foundation  and  of  the  best  materials. 

There  is  abundant  evidence,  especially  in  Europe,  of  an 
ancient  race  of  men  easily  differentiated  from  the  men 
who  have  occupied  the  same  regions  within  historic  times. 
That  race  is  called  Prehistoric,  Palaeocosmic,  and  Ante- 
diluvian. The  Duke  of  Argyle  and  Principal  Dawson 
argue,  "That  at  the  close  of  the  Palaeocosmic  age  a  deluge 
of  water  swept  over  our  continents  and  caused  a  physical 
break  between  the  earlier  and  later  human  ages."     This 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  121 

flood  was  of  "short  duration/'  and  the  depressions  and 
elevations  connected  with  it  are  the  last  serious  modifica- 
tions of  the  continents.  The  earlier  breaking  up  of  the 
glacial  period,  and  the  floating  and  melting  of  its  ice- 
bergs, seem  to  have  left  no  proper  geologic  formation. 
The  grinding  and  polishing  of  gravels  and  stones,  the 
crushing  and  grinding  excoriations  of  the  mountains  and 
in  the  gorges,  caused  by  the  constantly  moving  glaciers, 
and  their  scattered  loads  of  stone  found  on  land  then 
covered  with  water,  is  called  the  Drift,  and  is  in  no  sense 
a  geological  formation. 

But  the  historic  flood,  of  which  all  nations  have  a  tra- 
dition, left  its  abraded  materials  all  over  the  world  as  the 
last  great  geologic  formation.  Its  name  is  Loess,  or  as 
Sir  Charles  Lyell  calls  it,  "inundation  mud."  Some  call 
it  "diluvium."  It  is  found  throughout  Eastern,  Central 
and  Western  Europe,  in  the  mountains  of  Wales,  Siberia, 
China,  North  Africa,  and  North  America.  "It  lies  more 
or  less  over  all  the  countries  of  the  Northern  Hemisphere, 
up  to  the  heights  of  4,000  and  5,000  feet.  It  is  a  loamy 
deposit,  unstratified,  though  often  of  great  thickness, 
destitute  of  marine  shells,  but  with  land  shells  and  bones 
of  land  animals,  and  newer  than  the  deposits  of  the  glacial 
period,  being  in  fact  the  latest  deposit  next  to  the  modern 
peats  and  river  alluvia."  It  is  in  places  partially  swept 
away  by  modern  denuding  agencies,  but  occurs  in  patches 
everywhere. 

In  this  formation,  we  find  incredible  and  unmeasured 
accumulations  of  the  bones  of  modern  animals,  where 
currents  and  eddies  carried  and  deposited  their  floating- 
bodies  in  a  final  burial  place.  The  thin-skinned  animals 
were  soonest  decomposed  and  deposited.  The  Pachy- 
derms, or  thick-skinned  animals,  floated  longest  in  the 
currents  of  that  shoreless  ocean,  and  were  deposited  in  a 


122  The  Scriptures, 

wide  burial-ground,  far  away  from  their  native  haunts. 
We  find  large  islands  north  of  Asia  that  are  built  up  en- 
tirely of  the  bones  of  mastodons  and  other  pachyderms, 
while  on  the  continent  countless  numbers  of  these  ani- 
mals are  buried  in  the  diluvium,  or  frozen  up  in  the 
marshes  and  estuaries  of  that  region  of  cold  and  ice.  In 
recent  years,  frozen  bodies  have  been  thawed  out  in  suffi- 
cient preservation  for  the  dogs  and  the  wolves  to  feed  on 
the  flesh. 

All  attempts  to  account  for  these  things  have  failed, 
except  as  the  remains  of  the  flood  described  by  an  eye- 
witness and  avouched  to  us  by  inspiration,  and  reinforced 
by  a  universal  tradition. 

We  rejoice  that  science  has  vindicated  the  story  of  the 
flood,  and  superseded  the  supposed  necessity  of  revising 
the  simple  story  as  told  in  the  Bible.  Science  is  con- 
firming the  Scriptures  at  many  other  points  where  un- 
belief and  pride  of  opinion  professed  to  find  great  diffi- 
culties and  even  impossibilities.  Rationalistic  criticism 
may  peck  at  the  crannies  in  the  impregnable  rock  and 
imagine  that  they  are  tearing  it  way,  but  there  is  nothing 
to  fear.  The  Scriptures  are  not  of  such  exegetical  flexi- 
bility that  they  may  be  twisted  like  a  nose  of  wax  to  fit 
every  scientific  or  philosophic  fad  that  calls  for  recognition 
to-day.  It  will  be  exploded  to-morrow\  "Their  rock  is 
not  as  our  rock,  our  enemies  themselves  being  judges." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Influence  of  Judaism  on  Ancient  Civilization. 

WHAT  was  Judaism?  When  the  people  began, 
after  the  flood,  to  fall  away  to  antediluvian  apos- 
tasy, and  to  pervert  and  reject  the  truth  and  the  worship 
of  the  true  God,  there  was  raised  up  a  fami]> 
which,  in  a  few  centuries,  was  developed  into  a  people  to 
whom  should  be  committed  the  oracles  of  God,  to  be  kept 
against  the  time  of  general,  if  not  universal,  apostasy. 
The  divine  oracles  were  committed  to  Moses,  written  out 
bv  him,  and  committed  by  him  to  that  people.  Their 
civil  and  social  customs,  their  ritual  and  their  religious 
faiths ;  their  education  and  their  culture ;  their  families 
and  their  civil  institutions ;  their  hopes  for  time  and  eter- 
nity were  all  formed  and  fashioned  by  those  divine 
oracles.  And,  later  on,  those  oracles  were  expanded  and 
applied  by  inspired  priest  and  prophet  to  meet  changing 
conditions,  and  to  preserve  and  conserve  both  oracles  and 
people  in  their  necessary  relations  and  correlations.  We 
may,  therefore,  affirm  that  Judaism  was  the  concrete  pro- 
duct and  resultant  of  these  oracles,  both  by  natural  pro- 
cess and  by  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  abiding  in 
the  oracles  and  working  through  them. 

If,  therefore,  we  can  trace  large  influences  of  Judaism 
on  ancient  civilizations,  philosophies,  and  religions,  we 
are  entitled  to  claim  that  the  real  source  of  power  and  in- 
fluence was  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  No  mere  secular  his- 
toric view,  and  no  theory  of  naturalistic  processes,  will 
account  for  those  oracles  nor  that  people,  nor  the  tre- 
mendous results  achieved  by  them  in  the  ancient  world. 


124  The  Scriptures, 

Therefore,  in  tracing  the  influence  of  Judaism  on  an- 
cient civilization,  we  are,  in  the  last  analysis,  tracing  the 
influence  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  on  those  civilizations. 
The  same  is  true  of  their  influence  on  philosophies  and 
religions.  The  Jewish  people  were  only  a  means  to  an 
end  in  the  divine  plan,  and  the  Scriptures  so  represent  it. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  location  of 
Palestine,  the  divinely  appointed  home  of  this  people,  who 
were  to  affect  the  destinies  of  the  race,  and  of  its  eminent 
fitness  by  nature  to  safeguard  and  mould  and  fashion  an 
imperishable  people  to  dominate  all  others.  We  need  here 
to  touch  on  only  a  few  points. 

Palestine  was  geographically  the  centre  of  the  ancient 
world.  Take  the  map,  and  put  one  leg  of  a  pair  of  di- 
viders at  Jerusalem,  and  describe  enlarging  circles  with 
the  other,  and  in  its  sweep  will  be  included  all  the  old 
civilization,  Indian,  Persian,  Babylonian,  Egyptian, 
Greek,  and  Roman.  Besides,  Palestine  lay  in  the  high- 
way of  nations,  by  land  and  by  water,  both  for  commerce 
and  for  war.  Egypt  and  Central  Asia,  and  the  Hittite 
Confederacy,  for  a  thousand  years  coveted  Palestine  as  an 
outpost  against  invasion,  or  as  the  base  of  operations  for 
aggressive  wars;  for  either  of  which  her  granaries  were 
indispensable  and  her  alliance  supremely  valuable.  Proofs 
drawn  from  history  need  hardly  be  quoted  here. 

It  is  more  important  to  note  that  the  Jews  were  cen- 
tral in  the  divine  plan.  Jehovah  was  both  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  head  of  that  people.  No  other  civil  or  re- 
ligious commonwealth  ever  had  a  divine  head  and  a 
similar  divine  administration.  In  a  broader  sense,  he  was 
then,  as  he  is  now,  "head  over  all  things  to  the  church." 
The  Old  Testament  Scriptures  are  the  record  of  the 
principles  and  methods  of  his  administration;  but  mainly 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  125 

they  state  and  re-state  and  vindicate  the  truth  against  all 
comers.  The  full  scope  of  his  purpose  is  stated  in  his 
covenant  promise  to  Abraham,  "In  thee  shall  all  nations 
be  blessed;"  "all  families  of  the  earth."    But  how? 

They  were  the  centre  of  learning  and  culture  in  Solo- 
mon's day,  the  scope  and  the  patronage  of  which  is  set 
forth  in  the  third  and  fourth  chapters  of  the  First  Book 
of  Kings.  We  have  reason  to  think  that  the  kingdom  of 
David  and  Solomon  was  for  eighty  years  the  most  glori- 
ous kingdom  on  earth.  They  had  their  opportunity  and 
lost  it.  The  kingdom  failed  of  its  mission.  We  need  not 
here  explain  how  and  why. 

The  captivity  and  dispersion  made  them  missionaries  to 
the  race,  unwilling  missionaries,  but  real  and  successful. 
They  carried  their  Holy  Oracles  with  them,  and  their 
simple  forms  of  spiritual  worship;  and  all  their  achieve- 
ments in  strange  lands  grew  out  of  their  Scriptures,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  just  as  the  Bible  to-day  differentiates 
Christian  and  pagan  peoples. 

A  few  returned  to  Palestine  at  the  restoration,  to  set 
up  their  temple  and  ritual  worship,  and  maintain  the 
theocracy  until  the  King  should  come,  and  make  sacrifice 
and  offering  to  cease.  Those  who  returned  were  perhaps 
one-fiftieth  of  the  Jews  of  the  dispersion.  The  great  bulk 
of  them  remained  in  the  countries  to  which  they  were 
carried  away  captive,  and  were  gradually  dispersed  into 
every  nation  under  heaven,  but  were  not  absorbed  by  any, 
for  they  had  a  mission. 

They  became  cosmopolite,  rendering  allegiance  where- 
ever  their  lot  was  cast.  They  were  usually  prominent, 
prosperous,  and  petted.  They  were  sometimes  persecuted. 
Nebuchadnezzar  first  adopted  the  policy  of  protecting  his 
Jewish  subjects  in  his  great  empire.  Cyrus  and  Alexan- 
der the  Great,  carried  out  the  same  policy  more  distinctly. 


126  The  Scriptures, 

So,  also,  did  the  four  kingdoms  into  which  his  empire 
was  divided,  with  two  or  three  signal  exceptions.  Im- 
perial Rome  recognized  and  continued  the  same  policy 
as  she  extended  her  conquests  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
These  things  were  not  at  all  strange — because  their  thrift, 
integrity,  intelligence,  piety,  allegiance,  and  their  pure 
monotheism  gave  them  position  and  influence  in  the 
midst  of  heterogeneous  populations  who  were  ever  ready 
to  violate  their  oaths  and  hatch  treason. 

They  were  numerous  in  Asia,  Asia  Minor,  Egypt, 
North  Africa,  Sicily,  Rome,  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain,  and  the 
Lower  Danube,  as  indicated  by  Jewish  cemeteries  found 
everywhere.  They  went  along  as  the  advance  guards  of 
civilization,  wherever  Roman  arms  penetrated  and  sub- 
dued barbarous  peoples. 

Strabo  and  Juvenal  and  Seneca  tell  us  of  their  promi- 
nence and  prosperity.  Strabo  says,  "They  occupy  and 
possess  every  place."  Juvenal  says,  "The  Jews  sell  every- 
thing." They  were  kings  in  commerce  and  real  estate. 
Seneca  says,  "The  vanquished  have  given  laws  to  the  vic- 
tors." While  the  ambitious  Roman  sought  glory  on  dis- 
tant battle  fields  or  provincial  administration,  the  Jew  de- 
voted himself  to  law  and  learning,  to  the  bar  and  the 
forum.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  body  of 
Roman  civil  law  was  the  work  of  Jewish  lawyers,  who 
drafted,  compiled,  edited,  and  taught  it  in  the  schools. 
Gibbon  says  that  this  body  of  civil  law  is  the  one  price- 
less legacy  left  to  the  world  by  the  Roman  Empire,  even 
if  it  had  left  nothing  else.  Its  true  source  and  origin  is 
the  Jewish  law-giver  and  his  inspired  legislation,  as  re- 
corded in  the  Scriptures.  Its  later  expression  is  the  civil 
law  of  Europe,  and  its  still  later  expression  is  found  in 
American  constitutions,  institutions  and  legislation. 

We  here  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  the  influence 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  127 

of  Judaism  and  their  Scriptures  on  all  successive  civiliza- 
tions, ancient  and  modern,  transmitted  by  inheritance 
rather  than  gotten  by  invention  or  discovery.  The  author 
hopes  to  elucidate  this  idea  much  more  fully  in  another 
little  volume,  to  be  entitled  ''Hebrew  Institutions,  Social 
and  civil."  He  persistently  holds  and  teaches  that  every- 
thing good  in  human  institutions  is  of  divine  origin. 

The  synagogue  organization,  which  was  the  outward 
form  of  Judaism,  during  the  centuries  of  the  dispersion, 
accentuated  and  developed  all  that  was  good  in  them,  and 
made  effective  a  recognized  brotherhood.  Every  syna- 
gogue was  a  school  of  morality  and  piety,  and  was  a 
centre  of  religious  life  and  activity,  crowning  their  social 
life  so  that  they  were  saved  from  the  defilements  of  pa- 
ganism and  consequent  absorption.  The  synagogue  or- 
ganization also  unified  and  intensified  their  solidarity, 
and  gave  them  great  power  for  offense  and  defence,  of 
which  Gibbon  gives  some  wonderful  illustrations. 

Now,  the  Scriptures,  constantly  read  and  expounded  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  on  two  other  days  of  the  week,  were  the 
"be  all  and  the  end  all"  of  their  synagogue  system,  the 
unfailing  source  of  their  life  and  power. 

Every  synagogue  was  also  a  mission  station  for  the 
heathen  around  them,  and  immense  numbers  of  pagans 
became  proselytes,  especially  women.  All  this  served  to 
supersede  a  waning  paganism  and  check  a  growing  skep- 
ticism, and  so  prepared  the  Roman  Empire  for  Christ  and 
furnished  a  matrix  for  the  Gospel.  These  facts  have  been 
much  more  fully  unfolded  in  other  connections. 

The  main  object  of  this  discussion  is  to  trace  Judaism 
and  their  Scriptures  as  an  unmeasured  force  among  the 
nations,  especially  during  five  centuries  of  the  dispersion. 
Their  history  during  this  period1  has  yet  to  be  written, 
but  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  those  centuries  to  be  a 


128  The  Scriptures, 

real  eclipse,  or  a  day  of  darkness  and  despair.  Such  a 
hopeless  period  did  set  in  when  they  rejected  their  Mes- 
siah, and  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day  is  not  yet.  We  must 
not  forget,  however,  that  Judaism  suffered  immensely 
from  contact  with  the  civilizations  around  them,  especially 
in  the  later  history.  The  encroachment  of  Greek  man- 
ners was  the  burning  question  which  precipitated  the 
Maccabean  wars,  the  most  heroic  in  history.  But  the  en- 
croachment of  Roman  manners,  backed  by  Herod  and  the 
Herodians,  helped  to  intensify  the  Jewish  spirit  and 
solidify  and  save  their  integrity  against  the  time  of  their 
linal  dispersion. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Judaism  and  Ancient  Religions. 

IN  approaching  this  subjeci,  we  may  premise: 
I.  Religious  institutions  are  as  natural  to  man  as 
social  and  civil  institutions;  they  date  back  to  the  be- 
ginning; and  they  are  found  among  all  peoples,  from  the 
lowest  and  most  degraded  forms  of  savage  life,  up  to  the 
highest  civilization.  The  manifestations  of  religious  life 
vary  within  these  limits. 

2.  There  is  no  evidence  that  religions  originated  in  the 
religious  instinct,  so-called.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  changes,  additions,  and  modifications  of  doc- 
trine and  ritual,  and  outward  form  and  dress,  varied 
pari  passu  with  the  deterioration  of  barbarous  and  savage 
peoples  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  advance  of  half- 
civilized  peoples  on  the  other.  We  may  therefore  expect 
to  find  countless  varieties  of  detail  in  the  religions  of  the 
world,  just  as  in  other  institutions. 

3.  We  expect,  also,  to  find  all  these  institutions  modi- 
fying each  other,  and  also  modified,  by  contact  of  "other 
peoples.  Imitation  has  played  no  unimportant  part  in 
human  institutions,  stimulated  by  sympathy,  novelty, 
utility,  and  other  subjective  forces. 

4.  At  the  beginning  there  was  but  one  religion,  and  so 
also  after  the  flood.  x\postasy  before  and  after  the  flood 
was  the  natural  outcome  of  sin — its  heresies  and  practices. 

The  oracles  of  God  were  committed  to  a  people  pre- 
pared therefor,  in  order  to  save  true  doctrine  and  true 
worship,  while  other  nations  and  peoples  were  passing 


130  The  Scriptures, 

into  paganism,  which  slowly  crystallized  in  various  forms 
which  we  call  false  religions. 

5.  It  is  not  necessary  to  our  purpose  here  to  make  ac- 
curate definitions  of  true  and  false  religions,  but  we  sim- 
ply assume  such  obvious  and  surface  distinctions  as  are 
set  forth  in  the  Scriptures  and  are  usually  recognized. 
In  fact,  it  is  not  here  necessary  to  give  a  logical  definition 
of  a  religion  except  as  various  features  may  be  cited  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  this  discussion. 

6.  The  higher  and  more  powerful  religions  have  al- 
ways had  sacred  books  and  authoritative  literature,  which 
claimed  a  divine  origin ;  but  the  lower  and  more  degraded 
forms  of  religion  have  no  records  except  their  traditional 
doctrines,  superstitions  and  practices.  This  is  just  what 
we  might  expect.  This  same  is  true  of  their  history, 
philosophy,  and  social  life.  The  higher  civilizations  made 
permanent  records  of  some  sort.  The  lower  have  left 
little  or  none.  It  is  easy,  however,  to  connect  the  langu- 
age, the  social  usages,  the  traditions,  and  their  religious 
beliefs  and  practices,  with  the  higher  types  from  which 
they  have  descended.  This  is  true  in  most  cases,  at 
least,  simply  by  comparison. 

7.  We  do  not  propose  here  any  exhaustive  study  of 
comparative  religions,  except  to  show  a  community  of 
origin,  and  to  trace  the  subsequent  influence  of  the  true 
oracles  in  conserving  truth  and  preventing  the  corruption 
and  decay  of  absolute  apostasy. 

There  are  wonderful  similarities  and  identities,  both  in 
form  and  substance,  in  principles  and  practice,  as  we 
shall  see  presently,  and  their  modifications  may  often  be 
easily  traced.  All  institutions  are  based  on  fundamental 
beliefs,  and  are  their  concrete  expression.  False  religions 
are  the  great  conservative  power  in  pagan  nations.  They 
conserve  society  and  the   state,   even   though  they  may 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  131 

have  no  power  to  redeem  the  individual  from  sin  and  save 
the  soul.  Faith  and  natural  virtues  are  necessary  to  the 
permanency  of  human  institutions.  Universal  atheism 
leaves  nothing  but  utter  moral  putrescence,  anarchy,  and 
self-destruction.  The  French  revolution  approximated 
this  condition  of  things  sufficiently  to  he  an  object  lesson. 
Rulers  of  nations  and  peoples  have  not  been  slow  to 
recognize  the  value  of  the  sanctions  of  religion,  to  hold 
them  to  their  moorings  and  strengthen  the  bonds  of  so- 
ciety and  government,  even  when  they  themselves  re- 
garded it  as  mere  superstition.  State  support  of  religion 
has  often  been  freely  given  to  this  end. 

False  religions  have  derived  something  from  a  com- 
mon tradition.  All  nations  have  had  a  common  origin, 
and  in  that  common  origin  there  was  one  true  religion. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  how  much  has  been  saved  to  them 
by  direct  tradition.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  it  has  been  over- 
estimated. Paul  teaches  this  very  plainly  in  Romans  i. 
20,  22,  25,  28,  32.  In  fact,  the  entire  passage,  from  verse 
20  to  the  end  of  the  chapter,  shows  the  utter  futility  of 
traditionary  truth  to  purify  and  save  the  heathen  world. 
He  finds  the  reason  in  this :  "They  did  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge." 

The  light  of  natural  religion,  and  of  the  natural  con- 
science, has  also  been  over-estimated,  and  for  the  same 
reason,  as  we  learn  from  the  same  passage  in  Romans. 
Paul  teaches,  also,  that  the  natural  conscience  gives  the 
knowledge  of  sin,  (Rom.  ii.  12-15.)  It  1S  easY  to  see  tnat 
this  sense  of  sin,  and  consequent  guilt,  has  given  power 
to  their  religious  sanctions. 

The  only  other  source  of  the  similarities  and  identities 
noted  above  was  contact  with  revelation  and  the  divine 
oracles  through  contact  with  Judaism.  If  these  oracles 
helped  to  mould  and  fashion  ancient  civilizations,  as  al- 


132  The  Scriptures, 

ready  set  forth,  still  more  did  they  mould  and  fashion 
their  religions.  And  we  may  expect  to  find  their  influ- 
ence greatest  where  the  contact  was  close  and  long  con- 
tinued. On  the  other  hand,  those  peoples  who  had  the 
least  opportunities  to  copy  the  true,  have  fallen  into  the 
lowest  and  most  depraved  forms  of  religious  life.  Now, 
concede  the  divine  origin  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  and 
the  argument  is  easy. 

There  are  certain  basic  faiths  or  principles  found  in  all 
religions  more  or  less  distinctly,  to-wit:  Belief  in  a  god 
or  gods,  and  in  many  forms  and  manifestations  of  the 
supernatural ;  a  sense  of  sin ;  need  of  atonement ;  fear  of 
wrath;  efficacy  of  prayer;  divine  communications;  ia 
moral  code ;  rewards  and  punishments  in  this  life,  and  in 
a  life  to  come;  the  need  of  a  mediator;  and  such  like. 
These  faiths,  if  arranged  in  logical  order,  do  well  nigh 
formulate  the  abstract  creed  of  Judaism  and  Christianity, 
and  do  argue  a  common  origin  for  all  religions. 

All  religions  had  their  temples  and  altars,  sacrifices  and 
offerings,  priests  and  prophets,  shrines  and  oracles,  pray- 
ers and  fastings,  feasts  and  dances,  ablutions  and  puri- 
fications. All  of  these  are  the  outward  form  and  expres- 
sion of  the  basic  faiths  cited  above.  Even  the  lowest  and 
most  degraded  paganism  retains  and  exhibits  remnants 
and  perversions  of  these  things  which  are  easily  recog- 
nized. 

Archaic  research  finds  identities  in  the  names,  titles, 
and  attributes  of  the  supreme  gods  of  the  ancients.  For 
example,  in  Egypt  the  name  of  the  supreme  God  was  a 
form  of  the  verb  "to  be,"  just  as  it  is  in  the  Hebrew. 
Shaddai,  "the  Almighty,"  was  the  name  of  the  supreme 
god  of  the  Phoenicians,  exactly  as  among  the  Israelites, 
from  Abraham  down.  No  one  will  question  the  contact 
of  Egypt  and  Phoenicia  with  Israel,   from  Abraham  to 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  133 

David.  Jupiter,  Jove,  and  Jehovah  are  confessedly  one 
name.  This  name  was  adopted  by  the  Romans  from  the 
Etruscans,  along  with  other  civil,  social,  and  religious 
institutions.  The  relations  of  these  Etruscans  (Tar- 
shish)  with  Phoenicia  and  Israel  are  now  conceded, 
reaching  back  from  three  to  five  hundred  years  before 
the  founding  of  Rome. 

Besides,  there  are  extraordinary  historic  and  traditional 
identities,  mythologies,  and  literary  imitations.  Many  of 
these  have  been  traced,  some  fanciful  no  doubt,  but  many 
real  and  instructive,  because  they  tend  to  unify  legend, 
romance,  tradition,  and  real  history,  on  the  borderland 
of  the  actual  and  the  fanciful. 

All  the  above  named  similarities  and  identities  argue  a 
community  of  origin,  and  they  do  utterly  explode  the 
theory  that  false  religions  are  mere  human  inventions,  the 
ingenious  product  of  a  religious  instinct,  as  was  once 
held. 

These  identities  have  been  so  obvious  that  some  have 
tried  to  unify  all  religions  as  substantially  one,  each  of 
equal  value  to  its  votaries,  and  best  suited  to  their  several 
conditions.  Some  claim  that  faith  is  the  supreme  and 
saving  element  in  all  religions.  There  is  no  need  here 
to  refute  this  theory,  except  to  say  that  a  true  faith  rests 
on  an  infallible  warrant  and  promise  of  salvation,  which 
false  religions  cannot  furnish.  Their  faith  is  a  refuge 
of  lies. 

Agnostics  and  higher  critics  have  taken  the  lead  in 
discovering  and  pointing  out  these  identities ;  and  they 
have  interpreted  them  to  the  discredit  of  the  Scriptures, 
by  finding  other  origin  for  them  than  divine  revelation. 
They  have  pursued  the  same  tactics  in  bringing  the  his- 
toric accuracy  of  the  Scriptures  under  the  limelight  of 
archaeology   and   advanced   scholarship.      But,   somehow, 


134  The  Scriptures, 

the  impregnable  rock  of  Sacred  Scripture  grows  stronger 
with  every  newly  discovered  fact,  truth  or  identity.  "The 
stone  which  the  builders  rejected  is  become  the  headstone 
of  the  corner.  Whosoever  falleth  upon  it  shall  be  broken, 
and  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  shall  grind  him  to 
powder." 

A  question  emerges  here.  Why  are  not  some  of  these 
other  religions,  in  their  better  form  of  creed  and  ritual, 
sufficient  ?  We  need  only  reply  that  none  of  them  provide 
for  an  adequate  atonement  for  sin  and  guilt,  for  deliver- 
ance from  the  power  of  sin,  for  holy  living  here,  nor  for 
perfected  holiness  hereafter.  What  is  religion  without 
these?  To  discuss  this  fully,  would  lead  us  too  far 
afield. 

We  recall  that  our  theme  is  the  influence  of  Judaism 
and  its  oracles  on  ancient  religions.  We  may  give  further 
illustration  and  evidence  of  this  by  citing  those  false  re- 
ligions that  had,  and  still  have,  sacred  books. 

Three  great  religions  have  dominated  a  large  part  of 
the  human  race,  Magianism,  Brahminism,  and  Mahom- 
medanism,  and  they  all  have  sacred  books.  We  need  not 
here  consider  the  Koran,  the  Moslem  Bible,  because  in  its 
origin  it  is  contemporary  with  Christianity  rather  than 
Judaism,  but  recognizes  both,  and  claims  to  be  the  ad- 
vanced and  final  form  of  both.  This  leaves  us  two  for 
consideration. 

Magianism  once  dominated  Central  Asia,  and  seems  to 
have  been  the  rival  of  Sabianism,  out  of  which  grew  the 
worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  ultimately  all  forms 
of  Polytheistic  idolatry.  It  left  no*  sacred  books,  unless 
certain  papyri  discovered  in  Egypt  can  be  so  classified. 
An  old  cult  was  called  Zend,  either  because  they  wor- 
shipped fire,  or  because  they  kept  sacred  fires  burning  on 
their  altars.    Zoroaster  seems  to  have  reformed  and  popu- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  135 

larized  this  religion,  and  collated,  wrote,  or  edited  their 
sacred  books  under  the  name  of  Zend-a-vesta,  the  fire 
kindler. 

There  is  a  wide  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  who  he 
was,  where  he  lived,  and  what  was  the  nature  and  extent 
of  his  work.  Some  have  argued  that  there  were  two 
Zoroasters,  living  centuries  apart.  His  reputation  was 
world-wide,  and  for  centuries  his  name  was  a  word  to 
charm  with  in  all  departments  of  philosophy  and  wisdom, 
just  as  the  name  of  Aristotle  was  used  for  a  thousand 
years  by  the  schoolmen. 

One  tradition  which  has  been  largely  accepted  is  that 
he  was  a  servant  of  Daniel  the  prophet.  His  obvious 
knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  gives  color  to  this 
tradition.  We  are  concerned,  however,  about  the  con- 
tents of  the  Zend-a-vesta,  or  the  Magian  Bible.  Assuming 
Zoroaster  to  be  the  author,  compiler,  and  editor,  we  find 
him  copying  and  adopting  a  large  part  of  his  system  out 
of  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  He  inserts  a  large  part  of  the 
book  of  Psalms.  He  tells  the  story  of  creation,  and  of 
Adam  and  Eve,  very  much  as  Moses  does.  He  makes 
mention  of  Abraham,  Joseph,  Moses,  and  Solomon.  He 
calls  his  religion  after  Abraham,  and  his  book  he  calls 
"The  Book  of  Abraham,"  professing  to  restore  the  religion 
of  Abraham  by  reforming  the  old  Magian  religion  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians.  The  doctrines  of  clean  and  un- 
clean meats,  tithes  to  support  the  priesthood,  defilements 
and  purifications,  keeping  the  priesthood  in  the  same 
tribe,  one  high  priest,  sacred  fire  kindled  from  heaven, 
three  sacerdotal  orders,  the  shekinah  or  manifestation  of 
the  divine  presence,  and  many  other  things,  were  either 
copied  from  the  Jewish  Scriptures  or  adopted  from  Jew- 
ish usages.  He  claimed,  like  Moses,  that  God  spoke  to 
him  out  of  a  flame  of  fire.     He  rejected  all  idolatry  as 


136  The  Scriptures, 

rigorously  as  did  the  Jews,  and  taught  a  pure  monotheism, 
and  a  rigorous  morality  with  only  one  serious  blemish. 
Only  remnants  of  the  sect  remain  in  Persia  in  the  poorer 
parts,  poor  and  often  persecuted  by  the  Mohammedans, 
but  still  zealous  for  their  faith  and  their  traditions.  They 
survive  only  by  sufferance,  probably  because  too  poor  to 
be  plundered  by  their  rapacious  enemies.  The  conflict  of 
this  great  and  powerful  religion  with  the  Moslem  power 
for  a  thousand  years  has  not  been  written,  but  their 
scattered  remnants,  poor,  peeled,  and  despised,  tell  the 
story. 

We  need  not  be  surprised  at  the  wonderful  identities 
found  in  Magianism  and  its  Bible,  because  the  Jews  car- 
ried their  learning  and  their  Scriptures  everywhere  in 
the  dispersion. 

Brahminism,  in  original  and  derivative  forms,  still 
dominates  India,  China,  and  Japan,  more  than  half  the 
human  race,  perhaps,  certainly  one-third.  Buddhism, 
Shintoism,  and  Taoism  are  the  more  vigorous  and  ag- 
gressive unfoldings  and  absorptions  of  a  waning  and 
effete  Brahminism.  They  rival  each  other  and  their 
mother,  rather  on  the  philosophic  than  on  the  religious 
side.  They  all  hold  to  the  same  sacred  books  with  greater 
or  less  tenacity. 

Their  Vedas  and  Shasters,  and  especially  the  Rigveda, 
present  social,  moral,  religious,  and  philosophic  systems 
of  great  completeness.  Brahminical  learning  and  philoso- 
phy is  to-day  a  most  formidable  adversary  to  cope  with. 

Infidels  like  Jacolliot,  in  his  "Bible  in  India,"  and  Ed- 
win Arnold  in-  his  "Light  of  Asia,"  profess  to  find  the 
origin  of  Judaism  and  Christianity  in  the  sacred  books  of 
the  Hindoos.  They  make  India  the  cradle  of  the  race 
and  the  source  of  all  civilization,  philosophy  and  religion. 
They  claim  that  Moses  was  only  a  bungling  plagiarist  and 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  137 

imitator,  spoiling  many  things  he  did  not  understand, 
and  greatly  marring  the  beauty  and  the  symmetry  of 
truths  which  are  nowhere  properly  expounded  and  eluci- 
dated except  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos.  They 
are  not  slow  to  furnish  the  identities  we  are  looking  for. 
For  example,  we  find  there  the  story  of  the  creation 
and  fall  of  angels ;  the  creation  and  fall  of  man ;  Noah 
and  the  flood ;  Abraham ;  Moses'  civil,  social  and  religious 
usages;  the  birth  of  Christ;  his  miracles,  parables,  and 
moral  teachings,  &c,  &c. 

As  for  these  and  similar  identities,  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  and  they  do  argue  a  common  origin.  What  is 
that  origin?  Which  Scriptures  are  the  original  and 
which  the  imitation?  We  cannot  here  open  the  question 
of  the  genuineness,  authenticity  and  plenary  inspiration 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures.  Even  the 
agnostic  higher  critic,  who  rejects  the  historicity  of  the 
gospels  and  reduces  Christ  and  his  work  and  teaching  to 
the  realm  of  fiction,  would  be  hard  run  to  show  how  the 
stories  of  the  Sanscrit  Vedas  came  to  be  rendered  into 
Greek  in  or  near  the  Apostolic  age.  Such  audacity  is 
hardly  likely. 

But  Edwin  Arnold  and  his  claims  need  to  be  noticed  in 
a  common-sense  way.  The  foul  and  brutal  aspersions  of 
Jacolliot  do  not  deserve  notice,  though  they  both  claim 
substantially  the  same  thing.  Though  the  Vedas  are 
written  in  Sanscrit,  which  is  the  sacred  language,  schol- 
ars tell  us  that  they  were  written  long  after  the  Sanscrit 
became  a  dead  language,  and  that  the  oldest  of  them 
were  written  only  a  few  centuries  before  Christ,  and 
some  many  years  after  him. 

There  are  many  variations  from  the  Scriptures,  where 
they  cover  the  same  ground,  and  the  variations  are,  some 
fantastic,  some  attempted  explanations,  and  some  natural 
corruptions. 


138  The  Scriptures. 

The  same  philosophic  schemes  are  found  in  Christen- 
dom, especially  the  false,  which  are  distinctly  traceable 
to  their  sources  in  the  Indian  philosophies.  Many  cor- 
ruptions of  Christianity  originated  in  the  Vedas,  and 
found  their  way  into  the  Western  world,  along  with  their 
false  philosophies,  and  were  copied  as  charged,  but  not 
into  our  Scriptures. 

The  copied  morals  of  Moses  and  of  Christ  are  sadly 
corrupted  when  expounded  by  Brahminical  teachers, 
until  nothing  is  left  but  stench  and  rottenness,  though 
clad  in  taste  and  aesthetic  beauty,  and  made  charming 
and  attractive  by  poetry,  music  and  art. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  the  Jews  escaped  unscathed 
in  their  contact  with  false  religions  around  them.  WThile 
their  Scriptures  and  their  religious  institutions  escaped 
unmodified  by  the  contact,  the  people  themselves  were 
not  so  fortunate.  We  need  only  quote  their  history 
during  the  Judges,  their  idolatries  and  their  reforma- 
tions; or  the  history  of  the  kingdom  from  Solomon  to 
the  final  captivities ;  the  long  and  bitter  struggles  between 
the  orthodox  and  apostate  politico-religious  parties,  which 
ended  in  the  destruction  of  the  apostate,  and  the  deporta- 
tion of  the  orthodox  and  their  conservation  under  the 
protection  of  Daniel  and  the  Babylonian  Empire. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
Judaism  and  Greek  Philosophy. 

CIVILIZATION,  religion,  and  philosophy  are  inti- 
mately connected.  Every  civilized  people  has 
always  had  its  speculative  science  which  we  call  philoso- 
phy. Every  civilization  has  had  its  religious  institutions 
and  creeds,  and  corresponding  speculations.  The  social 
and  civil  institutions  are  largely  the  product  of  their  re- 
ligious and  philosophic  speculations. 

Philosophy  among  the  ancients  made  no  distinctions  of 
physics,  psychology,  moral  science,  theology,  ontology, 
and  metaphysics,  but  embraced  them  all;  but  they  gave 
large  prominence  to  the  speculative  rather  than  the  prac- 
tical. Modern  students  of  ancient  philosophies  confine 
themselves  almost  entirely  to  the  study  of  their  specula- 
tions, and  seek  to  trace  successive  schools  in  their  origin 
and  influence  upon  each  other,  and  upon  their  adherent 
peoples,  from  generation  to  generation.  We  study  mod- 
ern philosophy  in  the  same  way,  as  its  changing  phases 
have  ramified  and  modified  all  institutions,  civil,  social, 
and  religious,  with  their  several  creeds  and  constitutions. 
We  need  not  illustrate  this. 

We  have,  in  the  last  two  chapters,  endeavored  to  trace 
the  influence  of  Judaism  and  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures on  ancient  civilizations  and  religions.  If  our  con- 
tention is  true,  then  it  would  need  no  argument  to  prove 
similar  influences  on  ancient  philosophies. 

It  has  been  too  much  the  custom  to  quote  ancient 
philosophies  as  the  unaided  products  of  their  day  and 


140  The  Scriptures, 

time — a  mere  natural  crystallization  of  the  best  thinking 
of  the  period  to  which  they  belong.  Is  this  theory 
correct  ? 

We  limit  this  inquiry  to  the  Greek  philosophies,  except 
as  they  point  back  to  earlier  origins.  Every  educator  of 
youth,  whether  called  wise  men,  sophists,  or  philoso- 
phers, adhered  to  schools  of  thought  named  for  their 
founders  or  their  principal  expounders.  Princes  and 
kings  had  their  tutors  and  advisers  chosen  from  the  most 
learned  and  cultured.  We  are  told  that  Alexander  had 
two  tutors,  one  of  them  a  Jewish  rabbi,  who  did  not  leave 
him  when  he  came  to  his  majority  and  to  his  throne,  but 
they  travelled  with  him  in  his  Asiatic  conquests  as  his 
chosen  counsellors  and  advisers.  No  doubt  his  great 
partiality  to  the  Jews,  and  his  great  wisdom  in  dealing 
with  them,  was  largely  due  to  one  or  both  these  tutors 
and  counsellors.  The  story  has  not  been  written  of  his 
consummate  wisdbm,  and  skill,  and  statesmanship  in 
founding  cities,  consolidating  peoples,  converting  ene- 
mies, establishing  local  self-government  under  imperial 
sway,  but  we  may  give  much  credit  to  these  counsellors 
of  his,  who  had  drunk  at  higher  fountains  of  wisdom. 

The  Greek  philosophers  were  all  speculative  skeptics, 
and  had  no  faith  in  pagan  religions.  Still,  they  com- 
mended and  upheld  them  for  state  purposes,  and  as  a  con- 
servative force  in  society,  just  as  some  to-day  endorse 
and  patronize  Christianity  while  they  repudiate  any  per- 
sonal interest  in  it.  Every  system  presents  several  ele- 
ments of  a  religious  creed,  with  its  moral  code  and  re- 
demptive processes,  with  more  or  less  emphasis.  They 
start  with  a  God  and  a  cosmos,  a  psychology  and  a  moral 
system,  a  future  life,  and  how  to  meet  its  sanctions. 
Their  philosophy  falls  short  of  a  religion,  in  that  it  lacks 
all  forms  of  worship,  and  all  ends  on  self  and  its  aspira- 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  141 

tions.  Much  of  the  Brahminical  cult  in  India  and  the 
wisdom  of  Confucius  in  China  fall  under  the  same 
category. 

We  may  now  undertake  a  brief  analysis  of  several 
leading  schools  of  Greek  philosophy. 

First.  Pythagoras.  He  was,  in  a  proper  sense,  the 
father  of  Greek  philosophy,  though  by  no  means  the  orig- 
inator. He  was  born  at  Samos,  the  nursing  mother  of 
learning  and  philosophy.  He  lived  and  taught  at  Crotona, 
Italy,  after  his  return  from  his  travels,  from  540  to  510 
B.  C. 

He  travelled  many  years — some  say  ten  years — in  the 
East,  and  prosecuted  his  studies  from  Egypt  to  Central 
Asia  and  India,  and  had  ample  opportunity  to  study  the 
cults  of  Egypt  and  India,  and  to  master  Judaism  and 
Magianism.  Tradition  says  that  he  sat  at  the  feet  of 
Zoroaster  himself,  whose  reputation  among  the  Greeks 
knew  no  limits,  and  whose  connection  with  Judaism  we 
have  shown.  For  a  century  and  more,  no  one  was  con- 
sidered qualified  to  teach  philosophy  who  had  not  drunk 
at  the  fountain  head  from  Egypt  to  India.  We  have 
already  seen  how  the  waters  of  Judaism  had  percolated 
into  that  fountain.  Pythagoras  returned,  an  eclectic  in 
philosophy,  as  were  all  that  came  after  him,  but  not  a  re- 
ligionist. 

1.  He  taught  that  God  was  a  unit — a  monad — spiritual 
and  eternal.  This  seems  to  be  Magian  monotheism.  This 
God  was  the  principle  of  life,  or  the  soul  of  the  universe. 
This  sounds  much  like  the  efficient  omni-presence  taught 
in  Scripture. 

2.  He  taught  that  matter  was  also  eternal,  in  chaos, 
till  moved  upon  by  this  God  with  creative  power  and 
energy.  We  are  not  so  much  concerned  here  with  his 
concentric  spheres,  nor  his  attempt  to  reduce  all  natural 
phenomena  to  the  key  of  mathematical  law. 


142  The  Scriptures, 

3.  He  taught  that  there  were  superior  and  inferior 
gods  (demons),  spiritual  essences,  divine  emanations, 
some  pure  and  holy,  and  some  corrupt.  Every  created 
spirit  had  a  residence,  or  chariotage,  or  body,  some  more 
etherial,  some  grosser;  and  the  inferior  demons  derived 
their  corruption  from  their  gross  bodies.  Note  the  kin- 
ship of  this  to  the  Bible  doctrine  of  angels  and  devils. 

4.  He  taught  that  man  is  threefold,  the  rational  soul, 
the  animal  soul,  or  the  life,  and  the  body,  and  that  all 
the  corruption  originates  in  the  grossness  of  the  material 
body.  This  origin  and  seat  of  corruption  is  thought  by 
many  to  be  taught  in  the  Bible  doctrine  of  the  "sinful 
flesh." 

5.  He  taught  that  asceticism,  afflicting  the  body,  and 
a  heroic  life  purifies  the  soul,  which  is  exalted  to  the  rank 
of  the  superior  gods  for  a  blissful  immortality.  Those 
that  fail  are  consigned  to  a  purgatory  after  death,  and 
then  transmigrations,  through  animals  and  men,  for  an- 
other trial,  and  final  purification  and  exaltation.  The 
effects  of  this  plausible  philosophy,  when  adopted  by 
Christianity,  are  not  far  to  see.  The  doctrine  of  trans- 
migration made  him  and  his  followers  vegetarians  and 
made  animal  life  sacred. 

We  may  trace  much  in  his  system  to  Scripture  truth, 
and  to  its  natural  and  easy  corruptions.  Indeed,  the 
similarities  and  identities  of  this  and  other  systems,  when 
compared  with  Bible  truth,  are  so  obvious  that  skeptics 
seek  to  find  in  this  the  source  of  both  the  good  and  the 
bad  in  Christianity,  and  its  historic  development.  The 
successive  schools  of  Greek  philosophy  were  essentially 
Pythagorean,  and  may  be  treated  more  briefly,  so  far  as 
it  seems  necessary  to  mention  them  at  all. 

Second.  Plato.  We  pass  over  Socrates,  because  Plato 
puts  his  speculative  philosophy  into  his  mouth,  and  we 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  143 

do  not  know  how  much  is  strictly  Socratic  and  how  much 
is  Plato's  own.  The  same  may  be  said  also  of  Xenophon, 
the  accomplished  civilian,  soldier,  and  statesman,  who 
puts  his  practical  philosophy  into  the  mouth  of  Socrates. 
Plato  was  born  430  B.  C.  He  was  a  disciple  of  Par- 
menides  and  then  of  Socrates ;  and  he  travelled  and 
studied  in  the  East  several  years  after  the  death  of 
Socrates.    After  his  return,  he  taught  at  Athens. 

1.  His  cosmos.  He  taught  the  eternity  of  matter  as 
the  substrate  for  created  properties  and  qualities,  which 
were  impressed  upon  it  by  creative  act.  All  the  philoso- 
phies rejected  the  doctrine  of  the  creation  of  matter,  but 
they  approximated  it  as  near  as  possible. 

2.  His  doctrine  of  Deity.  His  god  was  a  self-existent, 
eternal,  self-sufficient,  quiescent  unity,  the  source  of  all 
intelligence  and  power.  He  was  not  only  a  unity,  but  a 
trinity.  The  Platonic  trinity  consisted  of  "The  Nous," 
"The  Logos,"  and  "The  Psuche."  The  "Logos"  eman- 
ated from  the  "Nous,"  and  the  "Psuche"  emanated  both 
from  the  "Nous"  and  the  Logos."  The  "Logos"  was 
the  creator  of  all  things,  and  the  "Psuche"  was  the  all- 
pervasive  "Anima  Mundi,"  or  soul  of  the  universe.  This 
doctrine  of  Deity  is  so  like  the  orthodox  view  of  the 
church  that  unitarians  reverse  the  real  argument,  and 
charge  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  gotten  from 
Platonism  instead  of  from  the  Bible. 

3.  He  followed  Pythagoras  in  his  doctrine  of  superior 
and  inferior  demons,  and  the  source  of  their  corruption 
and  sin. 

4.  His  anthropology  and  psychology.  Man  has  both 
soul  and  body,  and  the  tx)dy  is  the  source  and  seat  of 
corruption.  The  human  soul  is  a  trinity,  analogous  to 
Deity;  the  "Nous,"  a  sinning  demon  from  a  previous 
state  of  existence;  the  "Psuche"  or  animal  soul  and  life; 


144  The  Scriptures, 

the  "Thumos,"  or  active  energy  uniting  soul  and  body, 
and  securing  volition  and  action.  This  division  corres- 
ponds closely  to  the  popular  Scotch  analysis  of  man's 
faculties  into  the  intellect,  the  sensibilities,  and  the  will. 
Some  expound  the  Bible  as  teaching  an  actual  Trich- 
otomy, as  Plato  did.  They  seem  not  to  recognize  that 
heart,  mind,  soul,  and  spirit  are  names  given  to  one  and 
the  same  unit  from  different  points  of  view.  He  taught 
that  death  destroyed  the  body,  liberated  the  "Nous,"  to 
enter  upon  another  state  of  existence,  and  the  "Psuche" 
was  re-absorbed  into  deity  whence  it  emanated. 

5.  His  moral  and  redemptive  system.  Every  philoso- 
phy has,  in  the  main,  a  high  moral  code,  corresponding 
to  the  natural  conscience  and  the  dictates  of  the  universal 
need  of  redemptive  processes.  In  this,  religions  and 
philosophies  overlap  and  re-inforce  each  other.  Platon- 
ism  was  no  exception.  It  enjoined  asceticism,  self-con- 
trol, self-culture,  meditation,  a  placid  or  quiet  spirit, 
and  a  philosophic  temper,  as  adequate  redemptive  pro- 
cesses, self-originated.  A  rationalistic  philosophy  offers 
nothing  better  to-day  in  varied  nomenclature.  Faithful 
effort  along  these  lines  won  for  the  soul  a  place  among 
the  superior  gods. 

From  the  nature  of  the  case,  however,  only  a  favored 
few  could  avail  themselves  of  this  scheme  of  redemption. 
It  was  hopeless  for  the  masses,  because  of  their  poverty, 
ignorance,  and  degradation,  and  of  their  necessary  pur- 
suits and  environment.  Their  only  hope  for  purification 
was  in  purgatory  and  transmigrations,  as  taught  by 
Pythagoras  and  borrowed  by  him  from  Indian  philosophy. 

He  did  this  much,  however,  for  the  masses.  He  low- 
ered the  standard  on  account  of  their  hopeless  condition, 
their  besotted  ignorance  and  their  lack  of  opportunity. 
Here  were  defined  the  esoteric  and  exoteric  systems  of 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  145 

morals,  which  distinction  has  made  such  havoc  of  morals 
in  all  ages.  There  is  but  one  standard  of  morals.  The 
distinction  of  standards  for  different  classes  is  not  justi- 
fied, as  some  suppose,  by  Christ's  words,  "to  whom  much 
is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  required." 

Third.  The  Epicurean  and  Stoical  Schools.  It  would 
have  been  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  discuss  the  philo- 
sophies of  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  because  they  were  near 
the  fountain-head  of  influence,  and,  therefore,  were  most 
indebted  to  the  influence  of  Judaism.  The  best  is  found 
in  the  earlier  systems.  As  the  centuries  passed,  the  decay 
of  morals,  and  the  corrupting  influence  of  wealth  and 
a  godless  culture  were  attended  by  a  corresponding  in- 
crease of  skepticism  and  decay  of  philosophy.  We  dis- 
cuss these  two  schools  together,  the  one  radical  and  the 
other  conservative,  and  shall  find  in  the  ruins  clear  traces 
of  the  earlier  and  better  philosophy.  We  wish  especially 
to  note  the  reaction  of  the  baser  philosophy  on  Judaism. 

Epicurus  and  Zeno  taught  rival  schools  at  Athens 
about  300  B.  C.  They  are  called  the  Epicurean  and 
Stoical  schools.  We  may  consider  them  together,  largely 
by  contrast. 

1.  Epicurus  adopted  the  atomic  theory  of  matter,  as 
taught  by  previous  philosophers.  But  he  eliminated 
creation,  and  gave  to  the  universe  of  atoms  a  tendency  to 
aggregation ;  and  taught  that  all  the  forms  in  the  uni- 
verse, organic  and  inorganic,  were  due  to  the  fortuitous 
concourse  of  atoms.  This  is  the  baldest  form  of  evolu- 
tion, and  modern  evolutionists  are  not  slow  to  recognize 
and  to  boast  of  this  origin  for  their  dogmas.  Zeno,  on 
the  other  hand,  taught  that  matter  existed  from  eternity 
organized. 

2.  The  former  school  was  atheistic  in  its  tendencies, 
though    Epicurus   admitted    the   existence    of   a    god — a 


146  The  Scriptures, 

quiescent  entity,  far  removed  from  any  active  concern  or 
participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  universe — a  sort  of  resi- 
duary deity  left  over  from  earlier  philosophies.  Zeno's 
school  was  pantheistic.  He  made  God  the  active  prin- 
ciple of  life  and  motion,  and  the  agent  of  all  phenomena 
in  eternally  organized  matter.  This,  too,  is  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  older  doctrine  that  God  was  the  soul  of  the 
universe,  but  in  the  opposite  direction.  Modern  pan- 
theism is  much  indebted  to  Zeno. 

3.  Epicurus  taught  a  pure  materialism,  and  that  death 
and  the  dissolution  of  the  body  ended  all  for  man.  He 
offered  nothing  but  annihilation.  Zeno  taught  a  finite 
separate  existence  of  the  soul  and  its  final  re-absorption 
into  deity.  This  doctrine  seems  akin  to  the  Nirvana  of 
the  Hindoo  philosophy. 

4.  The  summum  bomim — man's  chief  good — has  been 
the  watchword  of  all  philosophies.  It  has  been  pro- 
pounded and  expounded  variously  as  the  goal  of  all  his 
hopes  and  aspirations.  Epicurus  said  happiness.  His 
doctrine  of  virtue  must  conform  to  this  definition,  and 
be  subordinated  to  it.  He  made  happiness  to  consist  of 
natural  enjoyments,  both  the  lower  and  the  higher,  for 
Epicurus  himself  was  no  sensualist.  Virtue  ministered 
to  the  higher  enjoyments,  and  should,  therefore,  be  the 
rule  of  life. 

Zeno  made  virtue  the  chief  good.  But  his  virtue  con- 
sisted of  a  resigned  self-possession,  and  a  supreme  con- 
tempt for  pleasure  or  pain.  His  virtue  was  ascetic  and 
heroic,  despising  rewards  or  punishments  as  incentives. 

5.  They  both  offered  a  moral  code  of  a  high  order  as 
the  rule  of  life.  But  the  watchword  of  one  was  pleasure, 
and  of  the  other  duty ;  one,  social,  the  other  stern.  These 
different  phases  were,  perhaps,  partly  due  to  tempera- 
ment.    But  they  both   practically   ignored   rewards  and 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  147 

punishments  as  the  sanctions  and  basis  of  sound  morals. 
Their  subjective  valuations  of  virtue  were  substituted  in 
the  place  of  law.  This  was  to  be  expected,  for  one  made 
chance  and  accident  the  sole  arbiter  of  destinies ;  the  other 
substituted  relentless  fate  for  the  doctrine  of  Divine 
providence. 

6.  The  system  of  Epicurus  tended  to  licentiousness,  and 
that  of  Zeno  to  recklessness.  Under  these  rival  schools 
practical  philosophy  superseded  the  speculative,  and  the 
whole  civilized  world  ranged  themselves  under  one  or 
the  other  of  these  banners.  It  would  be  apart  from  our 
purpose  to  sketch  the  decay  and  the  rottenness  of  Epij 
cureanism  in  the  Roman  commonwealth  in  deadly  conflict 
with  the  conservative  Stoicism  of  the  middle  classes, 
who  sought  to  save  the  sturdy  old  Roman  virtues,  out  of, 
which  conflict  emerged  the  Roman  Empire  with  a  new 
lease  on  life. 

Among  the  Jews  the  Sadducees  were  the  adherents  of 
easy-going  Epicurianism,  pure  materialists,  denying  both 
soul,  spirit,  and  resurrection.  The  Essenes,  of  whom 
we  know  but  little,  seem  to  represent  the  stoical  school, 
despising  wealth  and  position  and  pleasure,  and  courting 
obloquy  and  hate  and  persecution.  The  Pharisees,  be- 
ing intense  religionists,  did  not  follow  either  of  these 
schools. 

Solomon,  centuries  in  advance,  tested  this  Epicurean 
philosophy  to  the  full,  and  refuted  it  for  all  time.  It 
says,  "Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die."  The 
rich  fool  in  the  parable  is  a  type  of  this  school;  and  Paul 
considered  it  the  only  logical  alternative  if  there  be  no 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  if  our  faith  and  hope  are 
vain. 

Thus  we  have  sought  to  exalt  the  Scriptures,  and  their 
institutions  and  promises,  by  showing  their  influence  on 


148  The  Scriptures. 

ancient  civilizations,  religions,  and  philosophies,  and  by 
pointing  out  similarities,  identities,  perversions,  and  con- 
trasts. In  so  doing,  we  have  sought  to  show  that  all  that 
is  good  in  human  thought,  and  action  is  of  divine  origin. 
If,  therefore,  we  discredit  the  Scriptures,  we  discredit  the 
author  of  all  good,  and  there  is  nothing  left  in  all  the 
universe  to  honor. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Bible  in  Liberal  Education. 

WE  ASSUME  the  ordinary  view  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  as  God's  Word,  written  by  men  who 
were  inspired  by  God  to  do  so.  This  written  word  is  the 
analogue  of  the  Incarnate  Word.  Perfect  Divinity  and 
perfect,  inerrant  humanity  meet  in  both,  and  are  equally 
easy  to  our  faith  in  both.  The  Bible  is  the  Magna  Charta 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  is  the  unchallenged  basis  of 
our  Christian  civilization,  and  is  the  final  appeal  in  doc- 
trine and  morals.  We  might  a  priori  easily  locate  such  a 
book  in  education  as  The  Book,  the  inspiration  of  every 
school  room,  the  text-book  for  every  form,  without  rival 
or  substitute. 

History  so  locates  sacred  books  in  education.  All  the 
great  religions  of  the  world  have  had  their  sacred  books, 
and  used  them  most  effectively  in  their  educational  sys- 
tems. Al  Koran  is  the  text-book  for  the  Mahommedans, 
and  the  great  Moslem  university  at  Alexandria,  with  its 
10,000  students,  would  topple  and  fall  were  that  book 
removed  from  its  foundations.  The  works  of  Confucius 
are  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of  the  gigantic  educational 
system  of  China.  So  with  the  Vedas  and  Shasters  in 
India,  where  Brahminical  learning  and  philosophy  are 
more  than  a  match  for  many  an  antagonist.  It  was  so 
with  the  Zend-a-vesta  among  the  Magians.  And  it  was 
distinctly  so  among  the  Hebrews,  where  the  Scriptures 
were  put  on  the  pedestal,  from  the  family  school  to  the 
great   university   at   Jerusalem,    and   the   whole   people, 


150  The  Scriptures, 

young  and  old,  spent  one  year  in  every  seven  in  the 
study  of  their  sacred  oracles. 

A  purely  secular  education  was  formerly  unknown. 
Every  ancient  philosophy  taught  a  theology,  even  without 
sacred  books,  and  it  is  a  most  interesting  study  to  trace 
all  that  was  best  in  their  teaching  to  the  sacred  books  of 
some  people,  and  at  last  to  divine  revelation.  It  is  left 
for  a  Christian  people  to  attempt  to  ignore  their  own 
sacred  oracles  in  education,  and  only  too  successfully. 

A  reaction  has  set  in,  however,  just  where  it  is  most 
needed,  and  where,  in  the  end,  it  will  be  most  effective. 
There  is  a  growing  demand  to  reinstate  the  Bible  in 
liberal  education.  The  higher  education  moulds  and 
fashions  the  lower.  The  exclusion  of  the  Bible  from  the 
colleges  and  universities  has  largely  excluded  it  from 
the  lower  schools.  Restore  it  to  its  place  in  the  higher 
education,  and  it  will  quickly  and  naturally  find  its  place 
in  the  lower,  by  the  process  of  ''levelling  from  the  top 
downwards."  It  were  easy  to  sketch  the  perfunctory  re- 
ligious teaching  of  the  closing  century  of  college  work, 
but  profitless  to  do  so  in  this  connection.  A  new  era 
is  dawning,  which  demands  a  proper  recognition  of  the 
book  in  liberal  education.    Is  this  demand  pertinent? 

The  Bible  is  germain  to  the  trend  of  the  so-called  lib- 
eral studies.  Now,  which  are  the  liberal  studies?  Latin, 
Greek,  and  Mathematics  are  so  classified  only  because 
they  are  means  to  an  end — the  opening  of  the  door  to 
the  liberal  studies.  These  are  history,  mythology,  poetry, 
art,  psychology,  ethics,  sociology,  statecraft,  economics, 
ontology,  literature,  rhetoric,  and  all  the  sciences,  physi- 
cal and  metaphysical,  with  a  super-added  theology,  con- 
crete or  formulated.  A  mere  specialist  in  any  one  of 
these  is  a  crank.  A  man  who  may  have  mastered  them 
all  as  separate  and  unrelated  unities  may  be  nothing 
more  than  a  walking  encyclopaedia. 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  151 

The  mind  seeks  unification  in  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge. It  craves  generalizations,  and  gropes  after  all 
pervading  principles.  Extreme  sub-division  of  labor  is 
not  in  itself  wholesome,  either  for  teacher  or  pupil.  If 
one  man  could  teach  all  the  departments,  he  would  unify 
them  all.  Pupils  do  by  natural  digestive  processes  unify 
and  assimilate  very  much  for  themselves,  even  under 
conditions  not  the  most  favorable.  The  absence  of  nec- 
essary matter  and  proper  methods  does  greatly  retard  the 
processes.  Liberal  education,  therefore,  ought  to  furnish 
a  unifying  course,  itself  full  of  suitable  matter  and  taught 
with  appropriate  methods. 

Find  a  study  germain  to  all,  and  teach  it  so,  and  the 
system  is  ideally  complete  and  perfect.  Such  a  study 
should  present  infallible  data  at  all  overlapping  points, 
and  attested  principles  regulative  of  all  the  rest,  and 
should  be  taught  as  having  authority.  Revelation  alone 
can  pretend  to  such  a  position.    Is  it  adequate? 

Try  history.  History  deals  with  the  origin  and  growth 
of  peoples,  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations,  and  the  progress 
of  the  race,  either  upwards  or  downwards.  Now,  the 
Bible  gives  the  origin  of  the  race  and  its  only  history  for 
twenty-five  hundred  years ;  it  gives  the  key  to  all  history 
by  revealing  God  in  history  for  fifteen  hundred  years 
more.  History  becomes  a  science  when  we  can  trace  all 
the  causes  and  forces  which  go  to  make  it,  whether  they 
be  civil  or  social,  personal  or  political,  moral  or  ecclesias- 
tical, or  providential ;  and  that  history  is  futile  which 
fails  to  recognize  all  these.  There  is  no  philosophy  of 
history  which  fails  to  find  the  lessons  of  history.  The 
Bible  tells  us  that  Christ  is  "head  over  all  things  to  the 
church,"  from  Eden  to  Paradise,  and  unfolds  the 
methods  and  principles  of  his  government. 

Try  ontology.     This  is  the  science  of  being,  its  sub- 


152  The  Scriptures, 

stance,  modes,  forms,  and  essential  attributes.  How  a 
mere  human  philosophy  struggles  with  the  problem  and 
babbles  over  its  senseless  jargon  of  contradictory  conclu- 
sions !  The  Bible  reveals  matter  and  spirit,  divinity  and 
humanity,  angels  and  devils — their  several  modes  of  ex- 
istence and  their  essential  qualities — their  relations  and 
correlations,  so  much,  at  least,  as  d'oes  not  transcend  the 
powers  of  the  human  mind  to  know. 

Try  mythology.  Every  people  has  its  myths  and 
legends  and  folk-lore,  transmitted  in  fable,  history,  or 
song,  or  in  the  still  more  potent  creed  and  ritual  of  its 
religious  life  and  faith.  The  "gods  many  and  lords 
many"  of  classic  paganism,  and  their  deified  heroes,  are 
meaningless  fables  and  monstrous  fancies,  without  the 
Bible  notices  of  an  earlier  polytheism,  while  their  rites, 
usages  and  stories  are  but  traditions  of  the  true,  modi- 
fied and  distorted,  but  not  mere  myths. 

Try  sociology.  Social  order  originated  with  him  who 
setteth  the  "solitary  in  families."  The  origin  of  the 
family  is  divine,  and  its  constitution  is  God-given.  It 
precedes  church  and  state,  and  is  the  primordial  unit  in 
both.  Just  as  moral  law  must  of  necessity  originate  with 
the  author  of  man's  moral  nature,  so  might  we  expect 
social  law  to  originate  from  the  same  source.  If,  then, 
we  bring  all  the  social  problems  of  the  day  to  this  divine 
standard,  there  will  be  scant  room  for  modern  social  re- 
formers to  stand  upon. 

Try  statecraft.  Framers  of  state  and  national  consti- 
tutions are  careful  to  preface  them  with  a  bill  of  rights. 
The  covenant  with  Noah  is  the  bill  of  rights  for  the 
race.  In  Moses  we  find  a  jure  divino  warrant  for  repre- 
sentative free  government.  They  chose  "able  men," 
"men  of  truth,"  "that  feared  an  oath,"  and  "hated  covet- 
ousness"  to  be  judges  and  rulers  of  thousands,  hundreds, 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  153 

fifties,  and  tens.  When  this  warrant  is  violated  in  choice 
of  rulers,  it  shall  be  written  of  them,  "Woe  is  thee  when 
thy  King  is  a  child;"  "when  the  wicked  bear  rule  the 
people  mourn."  Look  you  for  the  ideal  commonwealth, 
with  free  choice  of  rulers,  co-ordinate  branches  of  gov- 
ernment, executive,  legislative,  and  judiciary,  state  and 
federal  relations  adjusted,  equilibrium  of  church  and  state 
safeguards  against  all  the  aristocracies,  and  so  on?  You 
find  all  in  the  Hebrew  commonwealth. 

Try  ethical  science  in  its  widest  sweep  as  defining  the 
limits  of  human  virtue  and  obligation.  Every  philosophy 
has  its  ethical  system,  Socratic,  Platonic,  Epicurean, 
Stoic,  Cartesian,  Leibnitzian,  Utilitarian,  Fatalistic,  and 
Rationalistic.  They  need  all  to  be  studied  in  the  light  of 
the  divine  law.  Personal  virtue,  social  duties,  political 
ethics  and  religious  obligations  are  all  to  be  tested  by  the 
same  infallible  and  authoritative  standard.  Compel  every 
ethical  system  to  make  its  obeisance  to  the  sermon  on 
the  mount. 

Try  physical  science.  She  stands  a  priestess  at  the 
shrine  of  nature,  and  vainly  questions  the  oracle?  Is 
matter  eternal?  Whence  came  its  laws?  The  limits  of 
the  natural  and  the  supernatural  ?  The  origin  of  species  ? 
The  beginning  of  life?  The  mode  of  creation?  How 
the  bones  .do  grow  ?  and  a  thousand  questions  more.  Na- 
ture's oracle  is  silent.  There  comes  no  answer  from 
those  secret  recesses  in  her  temple.  Mere  subjective  con- 
ceits are  mistaken  for  nature's  answers  and  are  promul- 
gated with  oracular  confidence.  The  God  of  nature,  who 
sits  in  clouds  and  darkness  amid  those  mysteries,  has 
spoken  from  within  the  vail,  and  told  us  all  we  need  to 
know  of  these  things.  "Through  faith  we  understand 
that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  Word  of  God.  So 
that  things  which  are  seen  were  made  of  things  which 
do  not  appear." 


154  The  Scriptures, 

Would  you  study  literature,  art,  poetry,  rhetoric,  and 
oratory?  These  all  have  drawn  their  highest  inspiration 
from  the  same  divine  fountain.  He  is  a  lean  and  barren 
critic  who  has  not  mastered  scriptural  ideals.  Let  him 
who  studies  these  things  drink  at  the  fountain  head. 

We  have,  then,  the  text-book  for  the  race;  it  touches 
human  thought  and  action  at  every  point;  its  statements 
of  facts  are  infallibly  attested;  its  principles  are  as  im- 
mutable as  God's  nature;  its  claims  are  paramount.  It 
is  common  now  for  sight-seers  in  Egypt  to  travel  by 
night  on  the  Nile,  and  as  the  boat  steams  slowly  along  an 
electric  search  light  of  immense  focal  power,  turns  every 
way,  revealing  every  obelisk  and  ruin  and  tomb  with 
such  vividness  of  detail  as  to  startle  and  delight  the  be- 
holder. So  The  Bible  is  the  great  search  light  which 
sweeps  the  whole  horizon  of  human  thought  and  action, 
confirming  the  good  and  the  true,  and  exposing  every 
refuge  of  lies. 

Such  is  The  Book,  and  such  its  relations  to  all  other 
truth.  "Thus  saith  the  Lord"  is  the  unceasing  refrain.  It 
is  the  full  and  complete  revelation  of  the  divine  intelli- 
gence, so  far  as  man  needs  to  know  it.  It  transcends  and 
comprehends  all  truth,  so  far  as  man  is  related  to  it,  or 
has  any  interest  in  it.  In  comparison  with  it,  the  wisdom 
of  this  world  is  foolishness.  "Where  is  the  wise?  Where 
is  the  scribe?  Where  is  the  disputer  of  this  world?  Hath 
not  God  made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world?" 

Liberal  learning  cultivates  the  taste  and  the  imagina- 
tion ;  it  chisels  and  polishes  and  beautifies  and  elevates, 
so  as  to  reach,  if  possible,  the  spiritual  part  of  man,  and 
to  realize,  if  possible,  the  ideal  of  Plato,  and  raise  man  to 
the  rank  of  the  superior  gods.  Plato  thought  to  accom- 
plish this  spiritual  result  by  mere  learning  and  culture, 
and  so  do  many  others  to-day.     No  culture  is  complete 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  155 

which  does  not  consider  the  due  equilibrium  of  all  man's 
powers  and  needs.  Not  the  least  of  these  is  the  spiritual. 
Shall  education  neglect  the  highest  and  noblest  part  of 
man?  The  Scriptures  alone  meet  all  man's  needs  in  this 
field  also. 

Two  great  mistakes  are  now  commonly  made.  Men 
pronounce  The  Bible  merely  and  purely  a  spiritual  book, 
and  make  great  pretence  of  exalting  its  spiritual  value, 
while  they  ignore  or  depreciate  its  universal  features. 
They  then  studiously  exclude  it  from  a  liberal  education 
because  it  is  a  spiritual  book,  as  if  the  educator  has  no 
interest  in  that  part  of  man's  nature  which  alone  differ- 
entiates him  from  the  brutes  that  perish.  It  is  hard  to 
say  which  of  these  mistakes  is  the  more  absurd  and  inde- 
fensible. Satan  himself  in  the  schoolroom  could  hardly 
dispose  of  the  book  more  adroitly. 

It  is  a  spiritual  book,  and  meets  all  man's  needs,  and 
ought  so  to  be  used  in  the  class-room.  Not  that  every 
teacher  turns  preacher,  but  when  he  teaches  spiritual 
truth  along  with  mere  secular  learning,  another  and  a 
heavenly  teacher  bears  witness  to  his  truth  which  is  "spir- 
itually discerned."  But  this  is  not  all.  The  Bible  re- 
states authoritatively  all  the  truths  of  natural  religion ; 
it  defines  the  limits  of  a  mere  morality ;  it  solves  every 
problem  of  social,  civil,  and  political  life ;  it  exposes  such 
science  as  is  falsely  so-called ;  it  uncovers  a  false  philoso- 
phy and  confirms  truth;  and  it  supplies  the  material  for 
constructing  or  verifying  a  sound  theology.  Every  man 
has  a  philosophy  and  a  theology,  from  the  ignorant  loafer 
and  anarchist  to  the  most  cultured  man  of  letters,  to  the 
test  of  which  he  brings  all  things  human  and  divine. 
What  if  it  be  inadequate,  erroneous,  and  destructive? 
Modern  education  without  The  Bible  is  the  matrix  of 
nihilism  in  Russia,  socialism  in  Germany,  communism  in 


156  The  Scriptures, 

France,  and  the  bastard  products  of  all  these  among  the 
English-speaking  peoples.  Education  and  culture  with- 
out Bible  truth,  gotten  and  assimilated  somewhere  or 
somehow,  is  like  a  vessel  turned  loose  in  mid-ocean,  with- 
out chart,  rudder,  compass,  or  pilot. 

The  conclusion  of  all  this  is  to  put  the  Bible  on  the 
pedestal  in  education,  and  require  every  department  and 
every  teacher  to  make  obeisance  to  it,  just  as,  in  the 
dream,  the  sheaves  of  his  brethren  made  obeisance  to 
Joseph's  sheaf. 

Are  these  views  practical  as  well  as  theoretically  sound  ? 
Pardon  me  for  saying  that  these  views  are  the  matured 
results  of  over  thirty-seven  years'  experience  in  teaching 
the  English  Bible  to  college  and  university  students, 
placing  it  in  the  rank  of  the  severe  studies,  giving  to  it 
practically  as  much  time  and  attention  as  to  Latin,  Greek 
or  Mathematics.  The  theory  was  born  of  the  practice, 
and  not  of  a  mere  conceit  sought  to  be  put  into  practice. 
Every  teacher  who  tries  it  honestly  and  faithfully  will 
find  it  so.  His  expanding  vision  of  the  unities  and  cor- 
relations of  all  truth,  divine  and  human,  revealed  and 
secular  will  yield  increasing  and  unceasing  delight  to  him- 
self and  his  pupils.  But  suppose  that  it  were  otherwise, 
irksome,  toilsome,  disappointing,  and  repulsive  as  much 
secular  learning  is  to  many,  its  real  value  would  not  be 
one  whit  abated.  The  most  toilsome  achievements  are 
sometimes  the  most  valuable,  and  they  often  develop  the 
highest  relish  as  the  reward  of  toil. 

After  all,  the  highest  value  of  such  a  course  of  study 
is  in  the  silent  power  of  daily  contact  with  divine  and 
spiritual  truth,  aided  by  the  natural  conscience  and  by  the 
unerring  Spirit  who  gave  it  all.  And  may  I  not  suggest, 
that  when  teacher  and  pupil  seek  to  unify  all  truth  on  the 
Word  of  God,  that  the  divine  Spirit  will  recognize  all 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  157 

truth  as  his  own  one  truth,  and  himself  preside  and 
teach  the  whole  ? 

Here  we  base  our  plea  for  church  and  Christian  educa- 
tion. Who  else  but  the  Christian  will  attempt  to  sanctify 
secular  learning?  Who  else  but  the  church  will  found 
and  foster  schools  and  colleges  for  her  sons,  and  provide 
a  comprehensive  Biblical  training  for  all?  She  cannot, 
she  dares  not,  relinquish  the  education  of  her  sons  to 
other  hands.  She  has  a  commission  to  sanctify  secular 
learning.  If  she  fails  of  this,  she  has  no  place  in  the 
school  room.  She  must  build  her  schools  as  she  does  her 
churches,  on  the  "foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets, 
Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone." 

Need  we  further  illustration?  In  the  manufacture  of 
the  cordage  of  the  royal  British  navy,  an  imperishable 
red  thread  is  twisted  with  five  white  threads  to  make  a 
strand ;  two  or  more  of  these  strands  are  twisted  together 
to  make  a  cord;  a  number  of  cords  are  twisted  together 
to  make  the  cordage  and  ropes  for  halyards,  sails,  and 
rigging;  a  larger  combination  makes  the  great  hawser 
which  holds  great  ships  to  their  moorings.  Through  and 
through  them  all  is  twisted  the  imperishable  red  thread, 
impossible  of  eradication  without  destroying  the  whole. 
One  may  walk  along  the  shore  of  a  desert  island  and 
pick  up  a  piece  of  rope  thrown  up  by  the  surf,  sea-stained 
and  half  decayed,  it  may  be,  but  when  he  begins  to  pull 
it  apart  and  scan  it  closely,  he  finds  that  imperishable  red 
thread,  and  he  knows  that  he  holds  in  his  hand  a  piece 
of  the  cordage  of  the  royal  British  Navy.  The  applica- 
tion is  easy.  Teach  divine  truth  along  with  every  four 
or  five  branches  of  secular  learning,  and  you  have  an 
education  unique  and  singular,  with  the  imperishable  red 
thread  so  wrought  into  the  whole  that  no  cunningly  de- 
vised fables  of  human  wisdbm  can  eradicate  it,  and  no 


158  The  Scriptures. 

devices  of  Satan  can  destroy  it.  Find  you  a  man  educated 
so,  be  he  poor,  and  oid,  and  feeble,  and  tarrying  yet  a 
little  while  on  the  brink  of  the  grave ;  confer  with  him  a 
little  as  he  looks  across  the  river,  and  you  recognize  the 
cordage  of  the  royal  navy  of  the  "old  ship  of  Zion." 

Take  another  illustration.  The  chemist  puts  into  his 
crucible  four  or  five  substances  and  applies  the  heat. 
When  it  is  all  fused  together,  he  pours  it  out.  The  pro- 
duct may  be  beautiful  and  useful  for  many  purposes. 
Let  him  repeat  the  experiment,  adding  another  substance 
which  has  a  controlling  affinity  for  the  others,  and  the 
product  is  very  unlike  the  first,  and  as  much  superior  to 
it  as  the  added  element  could  contribute  in  the  reactions. 
We  need  not  make  the  application,  except  to  say  that  di- 
vine truth  dominates  all  other  truth,  unifies  it  all,  and 
furnishes  the  final  test  of  all  human  wisdom. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

God  in  History. 

UIJ  ISTORY  deals  with  the  origin  and  growth  of 
J_  peoples,  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations,  and  the 
progress  of  the  race,  either  upwards  or  downwards. 
Now,  the  Bible  gives  the  origin  of  the  race  and  its  only 
history  for  twenty-five  hundred  years ;  it  gives  the  key  to 
all  history  by  revealing  God  in  history  for  fifteen  hundred 
years  more.  History  becomes  a  science  when  we  trace 
all  the  causes  and  forces  which  make  it,  whether  they  be 
civil,  or  social,  or  personal,  or  political,  or  moral,  or  ec- 
clesiastical, or  providential ;  and  that  history  is  futile 
which  fails  to  recognize  all  these.  There  is  no  philosophy 
of  history  which  fails  to  find  the  lessons  of  history.  The 
Bible  tells  us  that  Christ  is  the  'Head  over  all  things 
to  the  church,'  from  Eden  to  Paradise,  and  it  unfolds  the 
methods  and  principles  of  his  government." 

The  above  paragraph  is  quoted  from  the  last  chapter 
as  a  proper  introduction  to  this.  We  may  add  that  the 
chief  agent  and  actor  in  Bible  history  is  God  himself  in 
his  threefold  personality.  We  value  Caesar's  "Com- 
mentaries" because  he  was  not  only  the  chief  actor  in 
the  conquest  of  Gaul,  but  he  was  also  the  historian,  and 
certainly  knew  whereof  he  wrote.  Xenophon's  "Ana- 
basis" will  be  read  and  admired  for  a  similar  reason,  for 
the  literary  civilian  soldier  tells  the  story  of  his  famous 
retreat  at  the  head  of  the  ten  thousand  Greeks  with  the 
burning  words  of  a  thrilling  experience. 

Such  human  histories,  however  excellent  and  faithful, 


160  The  Scriptures, 

and  however  well-avouched,  are  liable  to  error,  from 
partiality,  prejudice  or  pride,  and  we  often  need  to  make 
allowance  for  the  personal  equation.  At  best,  they  make 
scant  recognition  of  the  control  and  direction  of  an  over- 
ruling Providence,  such  as  is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures. 

Our  position,  however,  is  strengthened  when  we  re- 
member that  these  pagan  actors  and  historians  were  led 
by  the  unerring  instinct  of  a  felt  necessity  to  seek  the 
guidance  and  help  of  their  gods  by  sacrifice,  augury  and 
prayers ;  and  the  magnificent  celebrations  of  their  tri- 
umphs were,  in  their  very  essence  and  expression,  great 
national  thanksgivings  to  the  god  of  war  and  their  tutelar 
divinities. 

In  the  Divine  mind  all  history  is  a  unity,  a  single  Di- 
vine plan  and  scheme.  However  complex  it  may  appear  to 
human  vision,  it  is  simple  and  intelligible  to  him,  because 
he  is  the  author  of  it,  the  expression  of  an  eternal  pur- 
pose. The  Lord  says,  "I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  be- 
gining  and  the  end."  James  says,  "Known  unto  the  Lord 
are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning  of  the  world."  (Acts 
xv.  18.)  Isaiah  xli.  4,  and  xlviii.  12,  teach  the  same 
doctrine  in  almost  identical  terms.  Compare  Isaiah) 
xlvi.  9-Ti. 

Prophecy  and  its  fulfilment,  spanning  the  whole  arc  of 
time,  make  manifest  this  unity  of  purpose  and  control. 
Prophecy  begins  at  Paradise  lost,  and  ends  with  Paradise 
regained,  and  deals  with  all  the  fortunes  of  the  race.  The 
man  who  studies  history  and  prophecy  together  may 
realize  the  extent  of  this  Divine  intelligence  and  control. 

The  obvious  and  necessary  relations  of  nations  and 
events  were  ordained  to  accomplish  His  ends.  "He  doeth 
according  to  his  will,  in  the  army  of  heaven  and  among 
the  inhabitants  of  earth ;  and  none  may  stay  his  hand 
or  say  unto  him,  What  doest  thou?"     God — the  Lord — 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  161 

the  Christ — is  the  universal  ruler  and  king,  law-giver 
and  judge  of  the  race.  "He  is  the  King  of  kings  and  the 
Lord  of  lords."  "He  setteth  up  one  and  putteth  down 
another." 

The  clue  to  all  history  is  found  in  one  threefold  propo- 
sition ;  the  seed  of  the  woman,  Abraham's  seed,  the  man 
Christ  Jesus,  is  "Head  over  all  things  to  the  church." 

With  these  postulates,  we  may  now  proceed  to  argue 
and  illustrate  the  theme  of  this  chapter:  God  in  history, 
himself  the  maker  of  history  and  the  historian.  "Holy 
men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost " 

i.  He  claims  to  control  the  greatest  and  the  smallest 
events  alike  in  supreme  wisdom.     Imagination  cannot  go 
beyond  the   fortieth  chapter  of   Isaiah,   where   we   read 
such  words  as  these:     "He  hath  measured  the  waters  in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  a 
span,  and  comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  meas- 
ure, and  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and  the  hills  in 
a  balance ;"  "Behold  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  in  a  bucket 
and  are  counted  as  the  small  dust  in  the  balance;  behold 
he  taketh  up  the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing;"  "It  is  he 
that  sitteth  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants thereof  are  as  grass-hoppers;   that  stretcheth  out 
the  heavens  as  a  curtain,  and  spreadeth  them  out  as  a 
tent  to  dwell  in ;"  "In  wisdom  he  hath  made  them  all ; 
and  who  has  been  his  counsellor  and  taught  him  wisdom  ?" 
His  providence  extends  to  the  minutest  details  of  all 
things.    "Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing?  And 
not   one   of   them    falleth   to   the   ground   without   your 
heavenly  Father.     The  very  hairs  of  your  heads  are  all 
numbered."     "He  appointeth  the  winds  his  circuits,  and 
the  sea  his  bounds,  and  our  breath  is  in  his  hands."  Great 
and  small  events  are  alike  to  him  and  so  with  measure- 
ments of  time. 


162  The  Scriptures, 

Consider  the  great  physical  universe,  transcending  hu- 
man vision  in  its  outlying  expanse ;  and  consider  the 
great  infusorial  and  animalcule  world,  which  lies  below 
the  range  of  human  vision,  and  stand  in  awe  of  his  in- 
finite wisdom  and  power. 

2.  Yet  he  works  through  second  causes,  and  guides  all 
nature's  forces.  History  is  made  by  the  combination  of 
many  forces.  Leaving  out  physical  causes,  forces,  and 
adjustments,  which  we  call  environment,  with  its  multi- 
tudinous changes  and  variations,  these  great  forces  re- 
main ;  forces  in  history — social,  civil,  moral,  religious, 
ecclesiastical,  personal  and  providential  forces.  The  his- 
torian can  ignore  none  of  these  if  he  writes  history,  or 
reads  its  lessons.  The  providential  pervades  all  the 
others,  so  that  he  worketh  all  things  according  to  the 
purpose  of  his  own  will. 

We  might  call  the  personal  element  the  one  dominating 
force  in  history,  either  the  limited  personality  of  man  or 
the  infinite  personality  of  God;  both  working  together  in 
the  divine  plan  to  make  history.  This  doctrine  does  not 
put  human  free-agency  in  jeopardy.  For  illustration: 
Joseph,  hated  and  sold,  slandered  and  imprisoned,  grew 
into  a  great  epoch  in  history ;  Moses,  the  weeping  babe 
in  the  ark  of  bulrushes,  stirred  the  heart  yearnings  of 
Egypt's  princess,  and  the  pulsations  of  his  own  great 
heart  shall  be  felt  by  the  race  to  the  end  of  time.  David, 
Daniel,  and  Paul  changed  the  currents  of  history.  But 
how?    "It  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps." 

3.  The  Scriptures  unlock  the  one  great  secret  of  his 
administration.  Some  have  complained  that  the  Bible 
gives  such  a  minute  account  of  an  insignificant  people, 
and  touches  the  great  nations  so  slightly.  This  is  all 
right,  for  as  Palestine  was  central  in  its  geographical 
location,  so  the  Jews  were  central  in  the  Divine  plan.    He 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  163 

was  head  over  all  things  to  his  people — and  all  for  his 
own  glory. 

4.  He  directs  the  destinies  of  nations  and  peoples. 
Egypt  had  a  checkered  history  and  her  City  of  the  Sun 
went  down  with  her  into  the  darkness  of  long  centuries 
of  night.  The  prophets  give  the  reason.  Babylon  was 
prospered  and  stricken  by  turns,  from  Nimrod  and  Babel 
to  her  final  overthrow.  The  clue  is  found  in  the  Bible. 
The  burden  of  Moab,  and  of  Nineveh,  and  of  Tyre,  and 
of  Amnion,  were  all  proclaimed  by  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and 
the  Minor  prophets,  and  they  lie  to-day  in  hopeless  deso- 
lation, while  Japhet  is  dwelling  blest  in  the  tents  of  Shem, 
and  Canaan  is  his  servant.  God  exalts  and  blesses  the 
righteous,  and  abases  and  destroys  the  wicked,  and  all  for 
his  own  glory. 

5.  Personal  agencies  are  conspicuously  under  his  gov- 
ernment and  control.  All  great  forces  are  found  em- 
bodied in  concrete  form.  We  talk  about  civil,  moral,  and 
religious  forces,  but  we  find  them  all  centered  in  the  life 
and  deeds  of  persons  acting  separately  or  in  concert.  This 
is  true  of  all  the  great  forces  of  good,  and  of  evil  also. 
The  Lord  says  that  he  made  the  wicked  for  the  day  of 
evil.  Moses  and  Aaron,  on  the  one  side,  with  their  ad- 
herents, and  Pharaoh  and  his  magicians  on  the  other  side, 
made  history  in  the  land  of  Ham,  in  the  field  of  Zoan, 
and  the  consequences  were  momentous.  But  who  was 
behind  it  all?  They  were  all  raised  up  for  a  purpose. 
David,  Daniel,  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  Cyrus  were  integral 
parts  of  the  Divine  plan  for  his  people. 

6.  Individuals  are  free  and  voluntary  in  working  out 
his  purposes,  and  are  always  held  to  the  strictest  account. 
What  strange  combinations  of  forces  we  find  in  the  work- 
ing out  of  God's  plans.  Let  us  trace  one  thread  of  so- 
called  destiny.     The    Hebrews    in  the  wilderness    were 


164  The  Scriptures, 

punished  for  their  sins  partly  by  an  attack  of  the  Amale- 
kites,  and  the  Lord  sware  that  he  would  have  war  with 
Amalek  from  generation  to  generation  till  he  should  cease 
to  be  a  people. 

A  few  centuries  later  Saul  and  his  people  were  pun- 
ished for  sparing  them,  in  part,  and  Samuel  hewed  King 
Agag  in  pieces.  David  exterminated  the  remainder  later 
on,  except  a  few  who  escaped  on  camels  to  foreign  parts. 
Centuries  later,  one  Haman,  an  Amalekite  and  a  descend- 
ant of  Agag,  was  prime  minister  to  Ahasuerus  in  the 
Medo-Persian  Empire,  and  was  immensely  powerful. 
Mordecai,  a  Jew  of  the  dispersion,  sat,  a  trusted  guard, 
in  the  King's  gate.  Esther,  the  beautiful  Jewess,  was 
queen  of  the  empire.  You  know  the  story — how  Haman 
was  hanged  on  his  own  gallows,  Mordecai  became  chief 
counsellor,  and  the  Jews  were  greatly  enlarged  and  pros- 
pered. These  all  were  necessary  elements  in  the  problem 
to  exalt  God's  people  and  punish  their  enemies.  "He 
makes  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him  and  restrains  the 
residue  of  wrath."  There  are  strange  combinations  in 
the  problem  which  we  may  not  even  try  to  solve.  In  the 
life  and  death  of  Christ,  and  in  all  that  has  come  of  it, 
Peter  and  Pilate,  John  and  Judas,  equally  wrought  the 
Divine  purpose;  and  all  were  free  and  responsible. 

7.  Every  human  action  enters  into  the  problem  of  his- 
tory, as  if  woven  into  a  web  of  most  intricate  pattern. 
Not  a  single  force  is  lost.  It  is  so  in  the  physical  uni- 
verse. A  pebble  is  dropped  into  the  bosom  of  a  lake,  and 
the  ripples  chase  each  other  in  ever  widening  circles  to 
its  farthest  shore.  A  ray  of  sunlight  traverses  its  ninety- 
three  millions  of  miles,  and  falling  gently  on  the  pansy, 
paints  its  petals  with  unrivalled  hues.  Who  can  measure 
space  so  far  as  it  is  filled  with  suns  and  planets  and 
satellites  and  comets  and  nebulae,  each  and  all  adjusted 


Fundamental  Facts  and  Features.  165 

to  each  other  in  wondrous  and  intricate  unity?  Not  one 
is  ever  jostled  out  of  its  place  and  lost  till  the  heavens 
be  no  more.  Every  wavelet  or  motion  in  their  oscilla- 
tions is  noted  and  recorded  as  part  of  the  plan.  We  are 
told  by  men  of  science  that  every  spoken  word  starts 
vibrations  in  the  atmosphere  which  communicate  them- 
selves far  out  into  the  physical  universe  with  ever  return- 
ing echo,  never  lost.  Is  there  nothing  like  this  in  the 
moral  universe?  No  word  nor  deed  is  ever  lost.  All 
the  forces  of  history  are  adjusted  to  each  other  by  him 
who  knew  the  end  from  the  beginning. 

The  late  Lieutenant  Maury,  who  was  as  eminent  for 
his  humility  and  faith  as  he  was  for  his  scientific  attain- 
ments, lectured,  some  fifty  years  ago,  at  the  University 
of  Virginia.  In  closing  a  wonderful  scientific  discussion, 
he  put  in  a  plea  for  the  God  of  the  universe,  the  author 
of  it  all.  He  awed  and  thrilled  us  all  with  a  simple  and 
artless  story  of  his  own  experience.  Said  he,  sometimes 
in  the  wee  small  hours  of  the  night,  when  I  am  worn 
out  with  labors  and  computations,  and  am  too  tired  to 
sleep,  I  pass  from  my  office  into  the  observatory.  I  con- 
sult the  astronomical  almanac,  and  find  that  a  certain 
fixed  star  of  the  first  magnitude,  whose  name  I  never 
saw  before,  is  about  to  pass  the  zenith.  I  adjust  the  great 
telescope  to  the  exact  position  and  myself  also  to  see  it 
as  it  passes.  Not  a  sound  is  heard  except  the  solemn 
swing  of  the  great  pendulum,  which  seems  to  be  meas- 
uring off  a  segment  of  eternity.  In  a  few  moments,  at 
the  exact  second,  that  burning  sun  comes  into  the  field  of 
view  and  slowly  and  silently  marches  across  the  spider 
lines  at  their  intersection,  and  presently  is  gone.  I  arise, 
rested  and  refreshed,  and  retire  to  my  couch,  and  in  a 
moment  more  I  am  asleep  in  the  arms  of  my  God.  "He 
giveth  his  beloved  sleep." 


166  The  Scriptures. 

Reader,  permit  the  author  to  indulge  his  life-long  habit 
as  a  preacher,  and  make  one  application  of  this  dis- 
cussion— We  are  all  engaged  in  making  history,  for 
weal  or  for  woe,  for  blessing  or  for  cursing.  What  sort 
of  history  are  we  making?  Why  is  so  much  of  history 
marked  with  disaster?  Why  are  the  centuries  strewn 
with  so  many  bleaching  bones?  'Tis  personal  failure. 
Mordecai  said  to  Esther :  "Who  knoweth  but  thou  art 
come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this  ?"  She  did 
her  duty  and  her  people  were  saved.  Eli  was  a  good 
man,  but  when  he  failed  in  one  point,  the  wreckage  of  his 
family  was  strewn  along  the  centuries.  Opportunity  may 
be  lost  forever.  Some  shall  be  saved  so  as  by  fire,  but 
they  shall  suffer  loss,  for  their  works  shall  be  burned  up. 


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